Lily Girls Magazine

By: Sarah Rogers

When You’re Not Reaching Perfection is When You’re at God’s Best

Imperfect…

This word hurts me inside. I would love to be completely perfect and have everything together. I compare myself to other girls and I know that I’m just not as beautiful, or as talented, or as overall amazing and happy as they are. I am very aware of the areas in which I am not perfect. Sound familiar? Most of us know that we are not a “perfect 10” in every area. Some of us even have issues with it. However, this self-awareness, this understanding that we are not perfect, can work in our favor. We must learn to change our minds, and see ourselves through Someone else’s eyes.

Changing our minds

The fact that we are not perfect should not come as a surprise to us, but it often does. We know that people sin and that sin makes bad things happen in the world, yet every time something goes wrong, we are devastated. It’s as if we are just being told for the first time that we are messed up, and it shocks us. But what if we looked at it in a different light? What if we saw our imperfections as starting points instead of breaking points?

In the Bible, Paul knew how to do this. He says that when he is weak, God can be used and can display His power. Who are we trying to fool when we think life or people should be perfect? God knows the truth, and He can take our messes and make them beautiful! In fact, God wants to take us broken. He prefers a girl that doesn’t have it all together. Maybe it’s that when we don’t have a plan, He can show us the way. Or that when we feel like we are not enough, he can show us how big He is.

In Psalm 51, David is talking to God, and he feels his imperfection in a big way. Not only has he committed murder and adultery, but his sins have been brought to light and, because of those sins, he is told that his baby is not going to live (1 Samuel 12). His mistakes were obvious, and he was overwhelmed by a miserable situation. If anyone could be completely broken, it would be David at this point. However, instead of trying to do as we do – make things right in our mind by making excuses or moving on and letting go – he faced his imperfection head on. He took his shattered heart and life in a bundle and laid it out before God. He admitted his sins and his brokenness and asked God to take him as he was.

David knew what we sometimes ignore – God wants us just as we are, and can work His best when we are at our worst. He even reminds God of this in the first verse of Psalm 51, when he calls out to God and asks for His love and compassion. He knew that all God wanted was his broken heart and his confusion and pain. He says, in verse 17 of the same chapter, “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”  He didn’t try to get things together and take God a heart that was patched up with tape and Elmer’s glue and say, “Here, God, I’ve fixed it for you!” like we often think we need to do.

God requires nothing more than our hearts in their normal, sinful state, whether we are hurting, unsure, angry, broken or confused. If this is true, then our messes are things to get excited about! They’re new pieces of a puzzle that God can put together and make something more beautiful than we imagined. The next time that we find ourselves feeling this way, we know where to go – to the One who wants us just as we are and can give us something better than perfection – love!