Disclaimer: This is a pretty lengthy one, but I'm pretty sure you'll benefit from reading it. Keep in mind that when I say flaw, I'm talking about our small, negative habits that we all have. I'm not talking about addiction, abuse, or anything that you wouldn't feel comfortable with talking about with stranger (you can tell a stranger that you procrastinate). Though many of the same principles still apply.
I committed my life to Christ when I was 19. Before that, I was a mess. After I accepted Big J into my life, I suddenly had everything together and all of my character flaws where poof'd out of existence! It was amazing! I no longer had anything wrong with me and everything that was good came natural.... And then I woke up :)
In reality, accepting Christ gave me this freedom in my life, but all my problems still existed. The only thing that changed was my heart. Now it wasn't all about me and I had a purpose for life (though I didn't know what that purpose was at the time). For the first year or so, I lived on a "Born-Again-High". Basically, I ignored my flaws because I was so happy to be apart of an amazing community of other believers! Who cares about my flaws anyway? That's all they talked about at church. "Nobody is perfect! We all have our things." I was totally happy with letting Jesus take care of my flaw-bucket (an imaginary bucket that I dumb my flaws into when I don't want to deal with them) when I pass on.
It wasn't until I was doing some research on other religions (just some extra brain food) when I came across the Mormon idea of working your way into Heaven. What? You mean you have to fix your flaws to get into Heaven? "I'll do my best and let Jesus do the rest!" That was a common little rhyme that I kept reading while looking at Mormonism. This, however, is not a post about the Mormon religion. It is simply a stepping stone in my journey towards growth and a healthy relationship with God.
So, "Doing my best and letting Jesus do the rest" sounds pretty good. Right? Not really. It depends on why you're doing your best. This was a tough one for me to wrap my mind around, but I did and it really changed how I do life. There are two ways to look at this:
1. You HAVE to do your best because God commands you to. Since we're incapable of being perfect, we look at Christ's sacrifice to pick up our slack.
2. Because of Christ's sacrifice, you are MOVED by the Holy Spirit to do your best.
The first one suggests that Jesus didn't cover all of our sins. If we don't put forth an honest, human effort, Christ will have to pick up more of your slack and therefore costing you a pretty penny when you die. The second, which is what Christians believe, is saying that because you are in no way perfect, the sacrifice of Jesus will cover it all. However, once you become a true believer, the Holy Spirit will move you to live a life that honors the one who saved you. So, do you do your best because you HAVE to or because you WANT to? It should be the latter. Oh, and it should be mentioned that "Jesus does the rest" is bogus. Jesus does it all, regardless of what you do.
Where am I going with all of this? Most people I meet at church live in a third category. It's a category that basically says, "I accepted Christ and that's all I have to do." Sure, they may serve others and attend Bible studies, but are they growing? Do they still have that problem with laziness? Do they still get really annoyed with bad drivers? Are they even looking at themselves, or are they using the holy sacrifice of our Savior as a crutch. "Christ has already taken care of it, so I don't need to change." If you believe that, you can refer to the first paragraph of this blog and file both of them under "in your dreams"!
Parker Parable Time!
Lets say that you have a cell phone. You pay the bill with your own money every month. Then, the bill goes up and you realize that you can't pay it anymore! You continue to use your phone and the bills keep piling up. Finally, they're about to cut your service, so you go to your parents and let them know what's going on. They love you and want you to have a phone so you can stay in contact with them. So, they decide to hold back on buying a new mattress and instead, they pay your phone bills and all of the late fees. Not only that, they agree to pay the phone bill for the next three months.
At this point, you're super grateful and agree to call them more often! In fact, you also agree to visit every Sunday morning to spend time with them! On top of that, you go ahead and help out all of the workers at your dad's auto shop!
Things are looking good! That is, of course, until your parents get the next phone bill. You've been racking up more charges than ever before! You've been texting way too much and making long distance calls for hours at a time! The bill is enormous! Your parents love you and pay the bill. You are so grateful! You continue to work your butt off, but the bill next month isn't any better. Again, your parent's agreed to pay the bill because they love you.
When are you going to realize that Christ paid your phone bill and you're still making long distance calls to Australia for hours at a time! You should want to look at your flaws and make some changes in yourself. Nothing says, "I'm not grateful" or "I don't fully understand" more than apathy towards wanted to change. Maybe you're not grateful and therefore feel no need. Maybe you just don't fully understand the cross and have nothing to be grateful about. The bottom line is that we live in a messed up world because we are messed up. Christ died for us to move on to a perfect world, but until we pass on, we should be making changes in ourselves to glorify and thank Him.
Practical Application:
Once a month (or every few weeks), my wife and I have a deep talk about our flaws. The first thing we do is pray that God would reveal our flaws to us. Then, we begin to talk about where we struggle. I, for one, used to get ticked off at bad drivers. The key words are USED TO. Once my wife and I identified this issue, we made a commitment to change. I would no longer flip out at other drivers and she would keep me accountable with that. It took about a month of consistent awareness and discipline, but eventually, I changed. One flaw down, on to the next! Flaws can always seep their way back into your life, so make sure you have someone to keep you accountable!
We do this because we feel like it's important to be the best representatives of Christ that we can be. We don't do it because we feel like we HAVE to. We do it because we WANT to honor our Savior by sacrificing our bad habits. NEVER say, "This is my character flaw and that's just who I am." You have been adopted into God's family. You have a new identity in Christ. Represent!
Don't get me wrong, not all flaws are easy to give up! You may need to join a 12 step program or get counseling, but it's your heart that matters. Start off simple. Get with a spouse, friend, pastor, family member... and ask them to help you with a small issue. Maybe you don't trust God enough in your life. Have an accountability partner encourage you for a month. Take some actions steps and trust God in small ways. "I trust that God will get me to work safely today." Gradually trust God more, day by day. Have your accountability partner check in with you to see how you are doing. Have a goal for the end of the month and try to reach it. Your goal might be, "I trust God with this new job opportunity." It may take longer than a month, but as long as you're on the path of change and growth for the Lord, you're glorifying the One who died for you. And lets just face it, we become less annoying when we rid ourselves of bad habits and character flaws :)
Don't be the same person you were yesterday. Be a better person because of Christ.
