Are you perfect like Jesus? I asked this very question this past Sunday. I said if you are perfect as Jesus is perfect, then raise your hand. Can you guess how many people raised their hands?
Correct, nobody did.
You are likely familiar with the phrase, “nobody is perfect.” There is a scripture verse found in Paul’s letter to the Romans that conveys that message:
“All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory….” (Romans 3:23 CEB)
Raise your hand if you are a sinner. Ok, yeah, we get that. We aren’t perfect, but here is the next verse.
“…but all are treated as righteous freely by his grace because of a ransom that was paid by Christ Jesus.”
(Romans 3:24 CEB)
Does God look at you as a sinner or as someone who is perfect?
The Good News is that Jesus died on the cross not only for us to get to Heaven some day. He died on the cross to transform us and to make us new now.
Jesus calls us to love as He loves. Jesus calls us to forgive as He forgives. Jesus calls us to serve as He serves.
Would Jesus really call us to do things He does not believe we can do?
Does a parent encourage their child to take that first step because the parent just wants to see the child fall? No, the parent encourages the child to take the first step because the parent knows the child can do it!
Jesus knows who you are better than you. Do you believe Him? He transforms us as Paul writes in another letter:
“But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death, to present you before God as a people who are holy, faultless, and without blame.” (Colossians 1:22 CEB)
What if tomorrow when you wake up you believe Jesus? You say to yourself, “Today is a day where I can love as Jesus loves. I believe Jesus has made me holy, faultless and without blame.” Or, you can wake up tomorrow and say to yourself, “I hope I don’t mess up too much today. I am just a sinner.”
Dan Mohler shares, “When people don’t believe good about themselves, they live up to the low level they see.”
Who do you believe you are? Don’t you think it is better to trust and believe in Jesus here?
Blessings,
Pastor Matt