Let’s get one thing straight. You’re not enough. And you never will be.
So stop trying to prove that you are.
- Stop striving and demanding perfection in yourself. Only God is perfect. He made you as an image, not an exact copy.
- Stop demanding it in others too. They have good days and bad days. And, like you, they deserve a chance to get better.
- And stop shaming yourself every time you fall down and don’t perform they way you’d like. You ARE defective, but that’s because you’re incomplete. Everyone is. Only God has infinite resources. The rest of us live life learning how to respect our limitations.
But just because we’re finite, earthbound beings (for now) doesn’t mean we should groan about our limitations or aspire to mediocrity. That’s because we have grace:
- It’s grace that reminds us that we’re more than what we do. We don’t need to perform to be loved.
- It’s grace that makes up the difference between our expectations and other’s shortcomings and empowers us to be gracious with others too.
- It’s grace that frees us from trying to live for another’s applause. Or to be someone we aren’t.
And it’s grace that gives us the power to dream and to work hard—not because we are enough, but because we don’t need to be. We have grace.
What act of grace could you extend to yourself today?
What act of grace could you extend to yourself today?
I believe if I am honest with myself, I could do not one!
But the Holy Spirit who lives in this body with me is capable of more than I
could even guess, being all nine of the spiritual gifts so well defined in His word.
The only thing I can do is get out of His way and follow and enjoy, I believe it is
called living in His Rest.
And in that is where all the struggles in my life are. Trying to do things under my power, not His Power.
Thank you for your words – they do make me think and ask myself the questions
I need to work through.
Hi Joel. Thanks for your comment. You are right. There, but by the grace of God, goes any of us. I meant the question to provoke a thought about how to express obedience to a truth already known. Similarly, Jesus (Mr. Grace Himself) told the paralytic to rise up and take his mat. What would that have said about his faith had failed to respond to the call of grace by not getting up?
This is so timely. We aren’t nearly as bad as we think we are (in Christ) and not nearly as good as we need to be (in Christ). Therefore, grace is the lever. It points me back to the truth. When I beat myself up for once again missing the mark, starting or stopping a habit/routine that I’ve promised myself I would time and time again, I’m overlooking grace. But, when I think I’ve got it all together, too comfortable with what I’ve done or think I’ve mastered anything, grace reminds me that none of that is good enough in the eyes of God. Grace helps me take my eyes off of me in the guilt or the pride of everyday thinking and keeps me “looking up” to the Grace Provider. Thank you, Leary, for these words penned more than 6 years ago but timeless in their impact.
Keep looking up brother! And reminding me to do so too. 😊