We Can't Always Be Perfect.

We can't always be perfect. How true does that ring? I mean think about it for a second. Think to your life, and all those times when you try and try and try so hard to say the right thing, or not to hurt anyone. Then out of pure anger or stupidity you say something that hits someone to the bone and scars them for life. Have you ever had that happen to you? Where yours or someone else's words or actions just hurts yourself or someone you know. I sure have. Those moments are just one instance at least in my life where I wish that I was perfect. That I could just always say the right thing, and always be that uplifting and awesome person, but like the title says. We can't always be perfect. Let's dive into that....

If we were perfect, oh life would be sooooo much better than it is now wouldn't it? I mean we would always say the right thing, always be clean, never sin, never experience defeat, always win no matter what we were doing, and succeed at all things in life. Sounds like the best life ever right? Sure on the surface that seems to be a pretty fulfilling and good life, but underneath and deeper there are many flaws.

If we never sin, never fail, never disobey God essentially, then why do we need Jesus? Why do we need a Savior then if we are so perfect? There wouldn't be a need for Christ then if we had a perfect life, and frankly I would rather have an imperfect, failing, and sinful life with Christ than a perfect life without Him. 

So my question for myself and all of us reading this then is why do we try so hard to achieve the perfect life where we don't fail or struggle, and in doing so avoid Christ. Because when we try to be perfect and when we avoid situations that we could fail or that we could struggle in then in doing so we are trying to be our own Savior. Jesus Christ came to this Earth because we are NOT PERFECT. He died on that tree so that we could stop trying to be perfect, and actually become perfect in His eyes. He loves us, and says upon that cross that we don't have to try to be perfect and try to save ourselves from pain anymore because he has done that for us already. We can never be perfect! Doesn't that free us from ourselves?! Doesn't that bring us peace to know that we can fail and falter, and no matter what we do that Jesus looks down upon us and says "I forgive you, and I love you forever more." I hope that that sinks in to you all reading this as much as it did for me. We pursue Christ and we love Him with all our hearts, and love others then no matter if we fail or no matter if we fall short of His glory he will always reach out his hands and embrace us in his arms again. Jump back into your Father's arms. He is waiting for you. He loves you, and he will for the rest of eternity and back. 

We ain't perfect, but with a perfect Savior we don't need to be. Amen to that. 

Circumstances

"Our circumstances are not an accurate reflection of God's goodness. Whether life is good or bad, God's goodness, rooted in His character, is the same." - Helen Grace Lescheid

How true does that ring? We tend to take our circumstances, and over-analyze them. We then take what those circumstances are and decide based off of those what the goodness of God is. For example, in my life if something positive happens I automatically assume that it is God, and I have a spiritual awakening almost during these times of blessing and prosperity. Take the negative, and the complete opposite happens. I think that all of a sudden maybe God isn't as good as I thought he was before during the mountaintop. It seems like we base God off of what happens in our lives. I mean, think about it for a minute. I just realized this over the past day or so, but I let life run my life rather than God run my life. Do you do the same?

In scripture it tells us in Proverbs to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." 

How can we really do that if we allow for every event or change or heartache or triumph or anything else that happens in our lives to define our image of God? The answer to that question is you just can't. You can not serve two masters as it says in Matthew. I struggle with this on a daily basis, but today I know that in order to suck this life for its full potential I need to not let these moments define me. I watched a video last week that really summed up what I am talking about here. It said in this video that our lives are full of defining moments, but those moments need to be defined by God alone. 

So my question for all of us of humanity is this. Are we letting life run our lives or are we letting God run our lives?