Good News for You

I have good news for you ...

You're not perfect. Isn't that a relief? Think about it: as a child of God, a believer in Jesus, you aim for righteous behavior (the alignment with God's purpose for your life) and when you fall short, you don't rejoice or fluff it off; you care. But we still tend towards falling short. And realizing that we are "but dust" is a good thing. Why? Because God knows it as well because He know us; and yet, he still loves us, he still forgives.

Some have made the mistake of placating their guilt by attempting to convince themselves that they are OK within themselves, that our intrinsic value relinquishes the need for our redemption. But it does not. We are all on a level playing field in the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. No matter the quantity of good works, no matter the quantity of bad works, all of us are in need of a Savior. So put aside the rose-colored glasses and take a clear, honest look at yourself. You are not perfect. 

But wait, the Scripture says that as a believer, you are perfected forever. What! Imperfect but perfected? Saved but being saved? A child now, but more to come? Yes. This is the "already but not yet", the paradoxical enigma we live in.

As a child of God, you seek to be led by the Holy Spirit. And He leads you away from sin and to Jesus. He works the process of sanctification for our holiness. And He will not stop until the final day when we are like Jesus. But for now, you will fail. In this is faith - faith in the God who brings us through the process. Faith in the bible that tells us we are mortal, men and women built with weakened frames who sin. This is not an excuse to give up and give in to our weak and frail fleshly disposition. This is hope to keep on when the darkness of your failure is strongest in your mind.

Oh, the relief to know that the expectations we place on ourselves are not the standard by which God judges us. He judges us in Christ, and Christ is perfect, so we are justified. That is how our God sees us. You can be thankful for the tender heart that is disappointed, even convicted when failure happens. God gave you that tender heart. And God restores the wounded soul. Don't make the mistake of thinking you're not that bad. We are all sinners, pulled out of the darkness of a dead life and united to true life with Jesus. God places great value on us as image bearers of him (in imperfection). He sent his Son to pay for the sin that separated us from him and to restore us to his image (in perfection). 

This is good news. Not your goodness, but His goodness. Not your perfect life, but his perfectly lived life. Have you failed? Go to Him knowing that all of your failures have been cast into the sea of forgetfulness and get back up on your feet as the righteous one in him that you truly are.

I hope these words encourage you.