Have you ever beat yourself up for a long period of time because you made a simple mistake? What about meditating so much on the mistake that you resolve that you are now a bad or incapable person? Friend, this is a prison of perfection.
See, perfection defined by this world is dotting every I and crossing every t. It puts way too much pressure on us to look perfect, sound perfect and be perfect. In and of ourselves without Christ, there is no way we can be perfect. We do not have it within our power to be perfect. Only God is perfect and good always. And with Christ, the umpire of our souls, and the Holy Spirit leading us, this is how we become perfect but in a different sense. The Word tells us in Matthew 5:48, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (KJV). In the TPT version, it says, “Since you are children of a perfect Father in heaven, you are to be perfect like him.” The Word, “perfect” in this verse actually means, “complete, full grown, mature.” God’s definition of perfection is not works-driven, putting all the responsibility on us, and then after having found out that we cannot be perfect in ourselves, we condemn ourselves. Perfection in the Lord’s eyes is based on His love. 1 John 4:18 says in the TPT version, “Love never brings fear, for fear is always related to punishment. But love’s perfection drives the fear of punishment far from our hearts. Whoever walks constantly afraid of punishment has not reached love’s perfection.” So going back to Matthew 5:48, when we substitute the word, “perfect” for “Complete and mature,” it now reads, “Be ye therefore Complete and mature, even as your Father which is in heaven is complete and mature” (KJV). “Since you are children of a Complete and Mature Father in heaven, you are to be complete and mature like him.” Keep in mind, in context, the verses prior to this one is dealing with loving our enemies and praying for people who despitefully use us. So after having looked at the Scriptures, a lot of us have tried to live perfectly by not making mistakes when God is concerned about us receiving his love and loving others as he has loved us. Think about it. When you beat yourself up, how can you give yourself any mercy? How is that loving yourself? And you can’t give love to someone else when you have not received yourself. Have you received his love today? Selah.
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I love to journal my thoughts I receive in prayer. "Chronicles" is my journey I'm sharing with you. Archives
December 2022
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