On more than a few occasions, I've received or purchased something that has just one small imperfection in it. The rest of the object is perfectly new, yet that one scratch, tear, distortion, or anything else remains imperfect. I used to always hate when this happened. I'd always want the whole thing to be perfect. I bought it with my own money, I sacrificed to get this product that now has an imperfection. I remember even once returning a doll I bought because her arm was disfigured. If it had even one thing wrong with it, I didn't want it.
I think I (and I know I'm not the only one who's done this) have transferred this thought over to the way I believe God feels about me. That if I have even one imperfection, I'll be "returned", rejected, unwanted. So I have strived to make sure that I "look good" to God, because, after all, He paid for me. He sacrificed His whole life, why would He do that to receive something imperfect?
Today, when I receive or buy something and then later learn that is has an imperfection, I feel happy. The imperfection marks it as mine, because it has, indeed, separated this thing from all the others just like it. No one else's object has this very specific imperfection in theirs, it's uniquely mine. I've found so much beauty in these random imperfections. I enjoy seeing them now. I see the imperfection and consider my purchase a good buy. I've bought something unique, something different, something that, by its imperfections, I can call my own. The sacrifice was worth it.
Yet.. when I first open the package to admire my newest purchase, and then find that it has an imperfection, a very small piece of me still wishes it wasn't there. A part of me is hurt by the fact that this thing that is now mine is not "perfect". I think we think the same things about ourselves. No matter how "beautifully imperfect" we are, deep down we still yearn for perfection.
When I meditate on what Jesus did on the cross, I see that He, fully knowing our imperfections, very intentionally paid the price of His life for us. He bought us with His very own blood. He sacrificed His life. And for what, exactly? A group of perfect people who had it all together? Nope.. but for an imperfect world with broken hearts, dirty hands, and screwed up lives. That's what makes what Jesus did so incredibly beautiful. While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us (Romans 5.8). This is the beauty of the gospel. And when Jesus looks down on all these people He's died for, He sees a good buy, He sees the sacrifice as worth it. He sees our imperfections and sees beauty, because He knows the life He is offering us. The life that makes us whole again. He sees the potential for a new creation.
See, Christ doesn't look our imperfections and then throw us away or "return" us to where He found us. He sees what's wrong, broken, and not good in us and gives us His life so we can be a new creation. All we have to do is accept His life. 2 Corinthians 5.17 says that if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old is gone, and the new is here.
Our imperfections have uniquely separated us from everyone else. These are the areas in each of us where we are weak. These are the parts of us we want no one to ever see. But Jesus sees our imperfections as the things that mark us as His, because in our weakness, He is strong (2 Corinthians 12.9-10). He sees our imperfections and says, "I can make you new." He sees the imperfections as an opportunity to create something beautiful.
Yet many of us don't accept what Jesus has done and what He wants to do in our lives. Many of us see our imperfections and choose to live in them, rather than in Jesus. When Jesus sees our imperfections, it hurts Him, because He died so that He can make us new; make us whole. When we don't let Him do this we break His heart. We don't want to get better, we don't want to be made new.
When we're broken, when we're weak, when we're down, "imperfect", struggling, or whatever - even if we're facing nothing - run to Jesus. He can make us new, and make us whole again. He wants to make us new. He is our healer and restorer, no one else can do this, not even ourselves. Let's stop pretending we have it all together and start believing that Jesus does. He is perfection. And even in our imperfections, He wants us. He wants to make us new and whole again, and He's the only one who can do it.
We aren't perfect, but we are loved.
--Peace and Love.
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