Hello Everyone,
Today I want to talk to you about perfection. Can we ever be perfect? Many times I have said, "I'm not perfect. I can't walk on water (I was referring to Jesus who is the only person to ever walk the earth and be perfect)." I have to change that a little now because you don't have to be perfect to walk on water. If God needs you to walk on water, He will cause that to happen. I definitely still believe that he can do miracles today. They are all around us.
So let's talk about being perfect. See, I say with my mouth that I am not perfect but I have a very hard time accepting that as a real truth. It's almost like I say it but I don't really believe it. How many times do we hold ourselves to standard that we are not capable of achieving? I have done it many times. Do you ever get mad at yourself over making a mistake? How about even worse, do you condemn yourself when you make one? I normally don't get mad at myself if I make a mistake but I have been know to "enjoy" feeling guilty about making it for several days. I once had an addiction (no it was not drugs or alcohol or anything illegal) that I could not break. Now if I gave in to my addiction, I would feel guilty for several days after. Why? I guess it was my form of punishment. Have you ever done that?
Now many of us church people will say that with God, all things are possible. That's actually very true unless He has already stated something about it in his word. Did you know it is not possible for you to go through life without facing trouble? Jesus said that in this life we would have trouble but it's OK because he has overcome the world. So I can't go around believing that I will not have trouble and saying that all things are possible through God because God already said I would face trouble. Why am I using this analogy? Because the same is true when it comes to perfection. I have seen this in the church but it is prevalent throughout society. We expect perfection of others. If the truth be known, I think we do this because secretly we expect perfection out of ourselves. We know that we aren't perfect and it makes us feel better if we can point out other people's imperfections.
Think about President Clinton for a minute. I don't want to get into a political discussion but did you know he actually did some good things while he was in office? All you ever hear about is the sex scandals though. Why? Was it wrong for him to do what he did? Of course. I'm not suggesting that what he did was OK but guess what it proves. He wasn't perfect.
So what am I telling you? We can't expect perfection out of other people. Guess what? You are a people. If you expect perfection out of yourself you are destined for disappointment. Now I am not telling you that it is OK to use that as an excuse to do anything you want. Someone might take this to mean that you should just do what feels good to you because after all you aren't perfect so don't worry about it. I am not saying that at all. You should work to do the right thing. I mentioned earlier that I had a problem with a certain addiction. Notice the key word - had. It's not a problem today because God and I worked through it.
What I am telling you is that when you are striving to do the right thing and do your best, there are going to be times when you just mess up. When you do, it's OK. Now there are definitely consequences to actions. If you are a student and forget to turn in a homework assignment, you might get a 0. If so, then go on. Next time try to remember to turn your homework assignment.
There may even be addictions that you are struggling with now. Take those to God and ask for his help. Now while there are no degrees of sin to God, there are degrees of consequences here on earth. I over ate for many years. I was mainly only hurting myself by doing that. The consequences were bad health and a large food bill, etc. But if your imperfections hurt someone else, get help.
So let me try to sum this up. Other than Jesus, no one is perfect. We can't hold others to a standard of perfection because they will never measure up. But if no one is perfect, that means you/I will never be perfect either. So we can't hold ourselves to that standard either. Just do your best and give God the rest.
That's another Opinion of the Minion
Today I want to talk to you about perfection. Can we ever be perfect? Many times I have said, "I'm not perfect. I can't walk on water (I was referring to Jesus who is the only person to ever walk the earth and be perfect)." I have to change that a little now because you don't have to be perfect to walk on water. If God needs you to walk on water, He will cause that to happen. I definitely still believe that he can do miracles today. They are all around us.
So let's talk about being perfect. See, I say with my mouth that I am not perfect but I have a very hard time accepting that as a real truth. It's almost like I say it but I don't really believe it. How many times do we hold ourselves to standard that we are not capable of achieving? I have done it many times. Do you ever get mad at yourself over making a mistake? How about even worse, do you condemn yourself when you make one? I normally don't get mad at myself if I make a mistake but I have been know to "enjoy" feeling guilty about making it for several days. I once had an addiction (no it was not drugs or alcohol or anything illegal) that I could not break. Now if I gave in to my addiction, I would feel guilty for several days after. Why? I guess it was my form of punishment. Have you ever done that?
Now many of us church people will say that with God, all things are possible. That's actually very true unless He has already stated something about it in his word. Did you know it is not possible for you to go through life without facing trouble? Jesus said that in this life we would have trouble but it's OK because he has overcome the world. So I can't go around believing that I will not have trouble and saying that all things are possible through God because God already said I would face trouble. Why am I using this analogy? Because the same is true when it comes to perfection. I have seen this in the church but it is prevalent throughout society. We expect perfection of others. If the truth be known, I think we do this because secretly we expect perfection out of ourselves. We know that we aren't perfect and it makes us feel better if we can point out other people's imperfections.
Think about President Clinton for a minute. I don't want to get into a political discussion but did you know he actually did some good things while he was in office? All you ever hear about is the sex scandals though. Why? Was it wrong for him to do what he did? Of course. I'm not suggesting that what he did was OK but guess what it proves. He wasn't perfect.
So what am I telling you? We can't expect perfection out of other people. Guess what? You are a people. If you expect perfection out of yourself you are destined for disappointment. Now I am not telling you that it is OK to use that as an excuse to do anything you want. Someone might take this to mean that you should just do what feels good to you because after all you aren't perfect so don't worry about it. I am not saying that at all. You should work to do the right thing. I mentioned earlier that I had a problem with a certain addiction. Notice the key word - had. It's not a problem today because God and I worked through it.
What I am telling you is that when you are striving to do the right thing and do your best, there are going to be times when you just mess up. When you do, it's OK. Now there are definitely consequences to actions. If you are a student and forget to turn in a homework assignment, you might get a 0. If so, then go on. Next time try to remember to turn your homework assignment.
There may even be addictions that you are struggling with now. Take those to God and ask for his help. Now while there are no degrees of sin to God, there are degrees of consequences here on earth. I over ate for many years. I was mainly only hurting myself by doing that. The consequences were bad health and a large food bill, etc. But if your imperfections hurt someone else, get help.
So let me try to sum this up. Other than Jesus, no one is perfect. We can't hold others to a standard of perfection because they will never measure up. But if no one is perfect, that means you/I will never be perfect either. So we can't hold ourselves to that standard either. Just do your best and give God the rest.
That's another Opinion of the Minion
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