I am perfect.
At least that’s what I’d like everybody to think. It’s just ingrained into me not to let other people see my failures and my weaknesses. I try to portray myself as someone who has it all together. But, what if I told you that, in reality, I am weak? That I have fears, failures, and shortcomings? What if I told you that for years, off and on, I have struggled with self harm? What if I told you that I look at a lot of my past with regret for the choices I made? What if I told you that I am not everything I seem to be?
What, then, gives me the strength to tell of my failures? Because although I have sinned I am redeemed. Although I have fallen I am lifted up. God has blessed me not only with His strength and peace, but also with the uplifting words of those around me who care.
I wish I would have gotten serious about my Christianity years ago, but I can’t let that get in the way of getting serious now. I am still young, and full of heart and life ready to be used by God. I can’t let my failures make me feel inadequate for God’s calling on my life, but rather as His teaching moments to prepare me for what He has for me. I can’t let people shame me for what has been forgiven by the blood of Christ. I can’t let anything or anyone come in between me and God.
I am far beyond perfect, but by God’s grace I am redeemed. By God’s grace I am forgiven. By God’s grace my past doesn’t have to be a burden but a lesson. I hope that through my imperfection God’s perfection and forgiveness shines through me.
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. – 1 John 4:9-11