My pastor friend feeds me scriptures, he gives me messages from God, he encourages me, and he shares with me the revelation of the Bible that God has given him.
And, day by day, by the love of the Lord, the gift of His Holy Spirit, and the power of His Word, I am finally coming to understand that I do not need to earn God’s love and approval. Nor do I need to earn anyone else’s love and approval. I can mess up. I can make mistakes. I can fall short. I don’t have to meet anyone’s expectations, not even my own.
People may come and go, but the Lord will not stop loving me because I fall short. Nor will He leave me because I mess up. He loves me even as I am, and He does not abandon me because I still have such a long way to go.
Instead, I can simply learn how to deny myself, pick up my cross, and follow Jesus. He knows the way. He is the way. And the Truth. And the Life. He is perfect. And He loves me so much that He will not leave me as I am; He will finish the work He has begun in me.
As long as I continue to follow Him, He will perfect me. He will not stop until He is finished with me. And, when I reach the end of the race, this marathon called life, He will stand waiting with open arms. Loving me even though I was not perfect. Even though I never was, and still am not.
But I am perfectly in love with Him. And, in His perfection, He loves me exactly as I am. Now that is perfection. His perfect love completes me. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen.
Heb 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Joh 14:6 KJV “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Mat 16:24 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
Php 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:…”
1Jn 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Psa 138:8 “The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.”