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Sunday, January 15, 2012

Perfection

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"Now the God of peace...make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Hebrews 13:20,21

When I think of the word perfect, I think "without fault". 

That's me!

Yeah right!  Snottyfinclothes! {It's not even close!} MadGab-1996-with Jeff and Rebecca Taylor. Remember that one Beccer?!!

Okay. Sorry 'bout that.  I'm back.

Anyway, thank God, I don't believe He means "without fault" when he says we will be "perfect in every good work...".  Remember the verse... "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus..." Romans 3:23,24

Don't you love that word GRACE?!

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What about this one..."But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

So why do we expect life to be perfect?  Why do I think my husband should be perfect?  My children?  My family?  My home?  My floors?  My yard?  My vacations?  My skin?  My waist?  My clothes?  My hair? {okay Kimberly, I know you  would disagree with me on that one .}  But you get the point.  You know where I'm coming from.  You have those thoughts.  And if we're really honest, we are super hard on ourselves, but we're super-duper hard on others. 

Critical?  Maybe just a little?  Yep.  Even us christians.  We can rip somebody apart with our criticisms.  "What was she thinkin' wearin' that?"
 "Look at that house, they live there?" 
"Did you see how her kids were acting?  I'd tear mine up if they did that."
 "I think they could use a new car.  I wouldn't be driving that hunk-a-junk around."

Yeah, we say that.  Come on, you know it.  And we always say it with a little bit of a "I'm just a tad bit better than you" attitude. 

I know.  Don't fall out of your chair.  But I do it too. Gasp!

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"Encouragement is oxygen to the soul."---George Matthew Adams

We all fail.  We all make those--- mistakes.
Deep in our hearts we know we need to be encouraging wives, mothers, friends; but somewhere between laundry, errands, housework, poop, sickness, responsiblities, we lose the energy and motivation to build others up.

"Reckless words pierce like a sword."  Proverbs 12:18

Unfortunately, this week my children were the receivers of my "reckless words." 
My only hope is that I can soothe those wounds with the balm of words that "minister grace unto the hearers".  

And lots and lots of hugs and kisses!

If you're one of those stinkin' perfectionist, cut yourself some slack. And by all means, let's share some grace.


"There are high spots in all of our lives, and most of them have come about through encouragement from someone else."
---George Matthew Adams

Go forth and be a grace-giver!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love this post!!! As our mother would say "Grace, grace God's grace"! What would we do without it??!! And I will forgive you if your hair isn't perfect. But just this once! ;)

Mamy K

Anonymous said...

That mad gab is HEART DEBIT TUBE RAKE!!!! You may not be perfect but I have seen you at your worst and even then you aint so bad!!!! Praise God, HE loves us warts, imperfections and all!!!!!

Rebecca Taylor-Reigning MAD GAB champ

Beth said...

Is it "Hard Habit to Break"? I love you Beccer! You must be remembering that hideous wart I had on my knee! The one that John STILL refers to almost daily:) THe ONE thing that he noticed way back before we ever really even met, but I had on a skirt, and he noticed it and NEVER forgot it! Leave it to Mr. Picky! Then Amy tied a knot in a string and buried it, and IT WENT AWAY!!!! WEIRD!

Christi said...

This is hard- keeping your mouth shut- at least for me. I'm better when I hang around good friends. :) So apparently even at 33 years old, peer pressure is still working on me. :(

Beth said...

I know, Christi! Me too!