Not Perfect In Any Way.......

When I came to Christ I begin reading the Bible and praying and having fellowship with other Christians and we start to grow together. But there were many times my growth would be so slow and so worthless it seemed that after a while I became disgusted with myself. For the first two or three years after I came to Christ I had some terrible moments of discouragement. When I started Bible school, I had a little getaway in the park that nobody knew about. I would go there alone and spend time and I would have it out with the Lord on topic after topic and problem after problem. Sometimes my growth was rapid, sometimes it was slow but always it was in the grace and knowledge of Christ.

Listen: if you are not all that you want to become immediately, don't give up. Two or three or five years later you can look back to that moment and say, 'Well, I'm actually growing.' It's a gradual process, like physical growth."

We as human beings have a serious problem in that Adam and Eve introduced sin into the human race. Because of the fall, we are not perfectible(is that a word, oh well, it flows wonderfully off the tongue) in this world. In the back of my Bible I have written, 'You wouldn't be so shocked at your sin if you didn't have such a high opinion of yourself.' I know that took your breath away......I am not good, but I am not home in heaven either. It is a long way between where I am now and Home. It helps me a lot to remember that when I do arrive, I will be like Jesus. Someone once said that you should never doubt in the dark what God has told you in the light. All that you knew to be true when you first became a Christian is still true. Nothing has changed in God's revelation. The Christian faith doesn't always make me feel good; sometimes I wish I could run away. But having seen the truth, I can not 'unsee' it. How about that? When I think I will never mature, I know better because He encourages me to press on. When I don't feel forgiven or hopeful, it helps to remember that He is the Forgiver and He is Hope". No one else.


Prayer
Lord, thank You for helping me when I am weak and discouraged. Help me to remember that my struggles are a part of a life-long process of growth. May I never lose sight of Jesus Christ and the Home that He has prepared for me. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.