Posts Tagged: Perfectly imperfect
“Perfectly Imperfect”
Here is a somewhat revised report I sent to my sponsors and accountability team this morning:
“No violations and no secrets.
Today, with God’s help, I am doing at least 5 things I need to do and 5 things I enjoy doing. Some of them will be the same. The challenge goal is to do 10 things in each category. I’ve already done several in both categories.
I did not do as well yesterday, I suspect. However, today is another day to try to get this thing called “life” right. Perhaps I will never get it entirely right, but if I did, I might become more puffed up than I am and be a real jerk. Maybe my imperfections really are an essential part of my perfection. “Perfectly imperfect,” we say. Yes. And “Imperfectly perfect” will work too. Any way you slice it, I am going to keep on striving for perfection. I am also going to keep on missing that mark.
I don’t know, guys. Maybe, for me, this boils down to Genesis 1-3. The story goes that God made humankind in God’s image (Genesis 1). I don’t know what that even means, but I feel as if I’m always trying to live that out. And it is a good goal.
Then, in Genesis 3, we’re told that the humans decided that being created in God’s image wasn’t enough. We wanted more. We wanted to know, wanted to experience, good and evil. We wanted to be like God by being God. And the rest, as they say, is history. That choice wasn’t a good fit for Adam and Eve. It is not a good fit for me, either.
God tried to show us that he loved us just the way we are, but as a species, humans are really slow learners. Finally, God sent his Son into the world to deal with our imperfects perfectly.
So, for today, here is my affirmation: Today, with God’s help, I am content and at peace with my quest to live out God’s image in my own perfectly imperfect way.
I am posting this near the end of my day. Sure enough, I was perfectly imperfect. It is quite likely that you were, too. And that is good enough.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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