Not Perfection

Today at church I learned about the importance of living holy. It was kind of a strange and confusing subject because people nowadays associate “holy” as “perfect.” That’s probably why some people don’t like christians or why they think we couldn’t possibly understand trials or temptation. The mindset seems to be “what do you know? Your life is perfect.” And I think I started believing that. Not that my life was perfect, but that in order to be a good steward of Christ, I have to be perfect. Believe me I know I’m not, but I’ve lived my life thinking I had to be, or that I had to try to be.

One big thing I struggle with is confidence. I never wanted to appear cocky so I brought myself down a lot. Still do sometimes. I also tend to compare myself to others. I look around me and am often ashamed of the sins I’ve committed thinking some rank higher than others. I look at the people in my family and wish I could be as strong in my faith as they are. And sometimes I forget that they too have things they’re not proud of. Their own list of sins and fears. No sin in worst or better than another and that’s really important to remember. God loves everyone regardless of what they’ve done and he doesn’t judge based off our views of sin. Sin is sin in God’s eyes. No ranking.

It’s also important to remember that no one is perfect. It sounds cliche but trying to live up to perfection is a real issue that I’m sure people besides myself struggle with. Especially christians. The world has distorted the idea of living holy and clean for God into living and being perfect. So when the pastor told me and the rest of the congregation to live in holiness, I was ashamed because I thought my sins prevented me from ever living up to that standard. What’s even worse is that I thought that standard was practically perfection. And coming to the conclusion, as often as I did, that I am far from perfect was hard. I felt like a disappointment to God, but mainly to myself. My whole life people have looked at me as the rule follower, the goody-goody christian, the girl who’s probably got it all figured out. Well, newsflash; I don’t. And that’s ok!

I’ve got to stop beating myself up every time I fail and stop comparing myself to other’s because being holy does NOT mean being perfect. No. I learned that being holy means consecration. To separate ourselves from sin in order to receive a waterfall of blessings from God. When we acknowledge that what we are doing is wrong, and we repent to God, you’re separating yourself so you can receive manifestation from God (Carlos Rodriguez). And yes we are going to mess up again maybe in the same area. But if we go to God, it’s bound to get better. God payed the price for our sins-past, present, and future- when he died on the cross. There is no condemnation for sin now, IF we acknowledge our sins and repent. If we don’t, than we haven’t truly been saved by the holy spirit.

I know that was a lot all at once but heres my main point: Holiness is NOT perfection. It’s not going though life assuming everything you do has to be right because if it’s not you’re either going to hell, or God is going to be very upset with you. Or both. Holiness isn’t constantly comparing yourself to someone you think is perfect and throwing a fit because you’re not. Some people are going to have certain things figured out that you’re still learning. They may not appear to be going through a tough season right now but that doesn’t mean they haven’t. Or that they won’t. You wanna know what holiness IS? It’s living a life of consecration. It’s knowing where we mess up and trying to make it better. It’s checking ourselves every now and then to see where we’re messing up and what needs to change. We are going to make mistakes and we are going to fail. But, as hard as it is to accept, those mistakes don’t define us. God has forgiven us so the next step is to forgive ourselves and continue striving to live a life that glorifies God.

Romans 3:10 says “as it is written: ‘no one is righteous. no, not one” (English Standard Version). But, Romans 3: 22-25 says the following: “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by grace through redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (New International Version).

“Consecration is key to living a life of holiness” (My awesome pastor: Carlos Rodriguez).