The Lie & The Truth

The lie: If I can be perfect, everything will be okay.

That’s the dream, right? If I can just reach some level of perfection then everything will be okay. Have you ever thought, “If I just had a new house…heck, if I just had new carpet in the house, life would be better?" We like to believe that if things are perfect enough, then all of life’s troubles will disappear. But that’s simply not true. We like to think if we just had enough money or enough beauty or enough patience or long enough hair or thick enough hair or longer eyelashes, you name it, then everything would be perfect in my life. But take one look at most of Hollywood and you’ll quickly learn this lie is one of smoke and mirrors.

Rich people still struggle. Money doesn’t buy happiness. Beauty fades. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, keeps wrinkles away forever! Botox can fill them out, but it doesn’t make life okay.

Maybe it’s in our DNA to want to be perfect. After all, Adam and Eve started out in perfect conditions with God and we are created in the image of God, who in himself is perfect. Maybe that’s why we can so easily believe the lie that if we can just be perfect everything else will be okay. But it won’t.

We don’t live in a perfect world. And we don’t live in a world we can control. We live in a sinful world that is hell-bent on perverting all that God has called good. Even if you follow God’s word perfectly, things may still not turn out the “perfect” way you had hoped. That’s why we can’t put our hopes in our own perfection. We put it in Jesus.

The truth: Everything is going to be okay because you serve a perfect God.

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you. If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.” -John 14:1-3

“I am the way , the truth, and the life.” -John 4:6

Everything is going to be okay for you because you serve the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus has planned an eternity of perfection for you. Life with Him just as it was originally meant to be. He’s also planned for you to have glimpses of that here on the earth as well. He is our joy in the midst of sorrow. Our peace in the midst of pain. His mercies are new every morning. He is our great hope through all of life’s trials.

Because of Jesus we can have the victory now and in the hereafter. We can lean on his word and walk with him daily knowing that “…he works all things for good for those that love him, according to his purposes.” Romans 8:28

Can you imagine how Thomas and the other disciples felt when they heard Jesus say the words italicized above? They had no idea of the trouble that was headed their way. Things were about to get really imperfect in their world or so they thought. But really it was all a part of God’s perfect plan for our salvation. Jesus had to be betrayed. He had to die a blameless death on the cross. This reminds us that we can never lean on our own understanding, but to trust that God, in his sovereignty, has it all under control. He holds you in his perfect hands as he carries out his perfect will for your life.

“…in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:6

When we follow Jesus, we can trust that even though things make not look “perfect” to us, we serve a God who loves us perfectly. He knows the path he has purposed for us to walk. We may not know all the turns our paths will take, but we do know how this all ends. With us and Jesus in eternity. Everything is going to be okay, not because you are perfect, but because Jesus is. He is perfectly “… able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord…” Jude 1:24

Jesus,

Thank you for your life-giving truth. Help me to live according to it and not the lies of perfection that try to trap me. Help me to believe that I am worthy because you have said I am. Help me to find my identify in you and your righteousness and not my flaws. Help me to stop playing hide and seek with you and to surrender all the areas of my life. I want to abide in the vine and bear a fruitful life. One that showcases your glory and transforms me into who you’ve created me to be. Show me your ways as I lay mine down. Amen.