As Christians we encounter daily challenges to walk the pathof faith and submission. We struggle against our base human natures to be better than we are. We do not struggle to be better for the sake of salvation, but because of our salvation. This week I have been reading several books. Each book coincidentally (ok, there’s no coincidence; it’s the Hand of God) contains a discussion of the challenges to bringing others to Christ. One of those challenges is that we are imperfect in our daily lives— no big surprise there. We make mistakes and we sin. No one is perfect. The world of non-believers (and in reality, other believers as well) holds us up to an expectation of “perfection” when we become Christians. How are we supposed to reconcile our imperfect behavior with the gift of salvation? Perhaps the following quote says it best:

“The Christian church is not a society of integrated personalities, nor of philosophers, nor of mystics, nor even good people. It is a society of broken personalities, of men and women with troubled minds, of people who know that they are not good. The Christian church is a society of sinners. It is the only society in the world, membership in which is based upon the single qualification that the candidate shall be unworthy of membership.”
- Charles Clayton Morrison, What Is Christianity

We work daily to become more like Jesus Christ. We study our Bible, pray, and pray some more. We strive to write God’s Word upon our hearts and to be better people. We learn to be more loving, more generous, more like our Lord. And we know that we may be “good” but the price of admission to be with our God in Heaven is BELIEF in HIM! We can never be worthy of this gift of Salvation and yet we have it. How do we deal our imperfections being pointed out to us? Take it as the opportunity to explain how we can never be “perfect” but we can be forgiven. Then we also need to work on our own ability to forgive and to support those who make mistakes and ask for forgiveness.

 

Author:  Lea A. Strickland, MBA CMA CFM CBM GMC
Copyright ©2012 Lea A. Strickland
All Rights Reserved

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