November 6th, 2010
Last Sunday at church, Pastor Rick told us a story. The story was about a young man who claimed that he had no sin in his life. It was obvious that this man was confused and wrong about his self-proclaimed sinless life; all of us will have sin and imperfections until we are living forever in Heaven with Christ. While I have known this to be true for awhile now, the story hit me hard and got me thinking. The more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became. What is the point of trying to improve, of trying to "fix myself", when I know that I'll keep making mistakes? Then God showed me a flaw in my thinking. If we could fix ourselves, there would be no need for grace. If we could become perfect by striving, there would be nothing special about God's perfection. God isn't asking us to try harder to fix ourselves. God is asking us to give up our lives to Him so that He can fix us. Does that mean I stop trying? Does that mean I give into my sin; my temptations? No. Because I love my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. When you love someone you want to make them happy; you do everything in your power to please them. He died for me, is living for Him really that hard? He doesn't ask for much. He asks us to love Him and love others. If we do those two things everything else will fall into place.
We're all human; we all make mistakes. But here's the beauty: no matter how much I mess up, God will always forgive me and love me. So, what do I do? I keep my eyes focused on God. When I stumble and look down He'll be there to pull my chin up and draw my eyes back to Him. And if he sees tears in my eyes He'll draw me into His arms and give me the love and comfort no human can offer. Because He is the Lover of my soul, my Father, my Comforter. He is my King, my God.
"Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith."
-Hebrews 12:1-2
