All my life I’ve been striving to be the “perfect” person.
I always tried hard in my studies (okay maybe not maths), I was always saying the “right” words or doing the “right things”, I was always trying to find ways to be seen as “the good child”.
When I was little I would be good so my parents would reward me. Yes they loved me unconditionally but I still sought after the recognition and rewards of being the “good one” to get that extra lolly or treat.
There is nothing wrong with seeking to be your best – not at all. It’s just that this thinking then passed over into my relationship with God.
I always thought that I had to be “good” or seek to be the “perfect Christian” when this is not what God says.
As we were sitting and discussing who we are as a team yesterday we went through the Bible seeking to find what the Word says we are.
Here are some of the things we got:
blameless, royalty, chosen, adopted, priests, worthy, pure, sanctified, redeemed, forgiven and more than conquerors.
Nowhere does it say that we are
still sinners, ugly, impure, forgotten, abandoned, losers..
all these negative things are not who we are anymore.
Jesus died on a cross so that we could throw off our past, we were washed clean of it. We are no longer known as any of those things. When God looks at us He sees that Jesus blood has washed us pure. God sees us in His perfect sight. We are perfect in His sight.
I now realise that I do not have to seek to be “perfect” because I already am.
Jesus shed His blood so that I can be.
This doesn’t mean that I don’t sin or need to ask for forgiveness – no this just means that I don’t need to do anything to earn His love or blessings.
God loves me for me, not for what I do for Him.
He loves YOU not for what you do, but just because He created you.
When we understand this we are able to live a life in complete surrender to Him.
I then want to live a life full of love towards others and serving them to show them Christ’s love and not to seek the recognition for myself.
Are you serving others to show them God’s love or to show them how “good” you are?
