Not My Perfect…
Maybe we all need to just get it out. Just shout it. I MESSED UP!
I didn’t parent my kids perfect, I lost my temper, I waited too long, I forgot…fill in your ‘I messed up’ here _________.
We live in a world with little patience for mistakes – and ever changing expectations. And we chase after whatever the latest ‘fit in’, ‘get on board’, ‘success’ is. Only to find we missed it – sometimes a near miss, sometimes by a mile. When we come to that point of weary, there is choice.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33 ESV) — or we can continue to chase the one we presently dwell in.
When we chase after God, we find He’s already caught us. Seeking His ways relieves our burden of perfection.
Too much expectation is put on people, self, or how we think things should be. Instead our expectation should be all about what God has done and how to honor it. Then all self-perfection falls away, because it’s not my perfect – or your perfect, but His.
The freedom in knowing only God is perfect is truest freedom. “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:25 NIV)
Blessed in what we do. I want to be blessed in what I do – and God doesn’t add any conditions. If we are earnestly seeking Him, then even in our mess-ups, His perfect covers all and we are blessed. Living in God’s perfect frees us from living for the world’s or our own perceptions.
Here’s the thing: hard times are ahead, we will mess up again (and again), but “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Corinthians 15:57 NIV) A sweet song has a refrain that repeats over and over again “Your praise will ever be on my lips, your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips.” So when our old friend doubt creeps in, when all too familiar condemnation pounds on our door, repeat with me: Your praise will ever be on my lips!
parisrenae 
Thank you for this encouragement today. I recently lost my temper after waiting in a long line at customer service, and then the employee was unkind and uncooperative. Unfortunately, my daughter was with me, and I felt that I was such a failure. And it was only the 2nd day of the new year! Thank you for reminding me that God’s perfect covers all of my mess-ups! Every day is a new beginning in Him.
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Oh my friend, I am so grateful God is so big because my mess-ups aren’t tiny! Stepping with you into each new day of HIS perfect and trying to leave behind my concept of who I should be and walk in His. Much love…
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So glad He can fill in all the gaps where we mess up! If only we knew then what we know now! We really should live a “Benjamin Buttons” life. Ya know? 🙂 — I love that praise song. (And, it will be stuck in my head for approximately 800 days now. Give or take. 🙂 ) — Thank you for sharing, and thank you for linking up with #ChasingCommunity today. So glad we were able to get you linked up. Hopefully it will work for you next week, but if you need me to link them for you until you get the problem figured out, I’m happy to do so. 🙂 So glad we were in the same place at the same time in November. 🙂 ((hug))
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Yes, it was great to meet you in Nov. 🙂 So excited about your new website and your link-up. Yours and one other are the only ones I can’t get through on 😦 And yes, we do mess up, but He cleans up those messes and makes beauty out of it all, praise the Lord!
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love this! his goodnes is just IS and that is enough! thanks for your encouragment this morning!
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Thank you for stopping by. Yes, He is enough in every way, how I wish we could remember that all the time, but He’s there even when we forget 🙂 May His praise ever be on our lips!
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I absolutely love that first picture! The colors of the sky reflected on the water is such a beautiful picture of magnifying the beauty of Jesus by letting Him shine through us. No, we can’t do it on our own; we will fail.
May we seek Him every day so that His Righteousness may shine in and through us.
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Ruth, Yes, agreeing with you, may His righteousness shine in us and through us. Grace to you as you live the days ahead in His perfect 🙂
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