The hope within our unfinished selves
Once again, my words landed in a way I didn’t intend.
Not the words from this column, or even words out of my mouth. Just words in one of my many communications with people in my life.
I’m not writing this to get attention or solicit assurances that I am an OK person. I just want to own up to what I did and in this discussion maybe find a kernel of truth or a glimpse of hope – for all of us.
If you know me, you know I’m forthright, often plainspoken – “blunt” might be another description. I’ve written here about this before. I have lost a friendship because of this.
And I’m still trying – after all these years – to cope with:
This is my personality. This is how God created me and how my environment shaped me … and I need to learn the best way to deal with it.
Actually, what I said in this latest interaction wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but it was enough to draw a comment from someone I love and interact with on a regular basis. I own up to the fact that there were probably many other ways to make what I said more palatable.
I apologized, and we had – I think – a good discussion about the situation. I will try to be more aware of how I can phrase certain things. She, in turn, may look at a few things differently, too. I do hope and pray to grow from the situation.
This past Sunday, the interaction was still on my mind, and during lunch with friends, one of my brothers in Christ reminded me that none of us are perfect. I had already told myself that, but it was good to hear it from someone else as well. If any of us could be perfect, then Jesus would never have had to come down here and die for us.
But he did.
And the good thing about that is: We can always seek to grow toward that model of perfection that he presented, that he still presents, even though we’ll never reach it this side of heaven.
No, we’ll never be perfect – down here. But … if we accept and obey him, he treats us just as if we’ve never sinned. Think about that. If we are in Christ, Jesus and the Father look at us just as if we had never sinned. Justification. What a beautiful word.
My unwise, foolish actions – and we know I have many – all of those are covered by his blood and His forgiveness.
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” – Romans 8:1.
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” – Psalm 103:12.
Friend, I hope you have this in your life. If you don’t, and if trying to be “good enough” – much less perfect – is where you are in life at this time, I truly encourage you to look for Jesus, look at Jesus, and accept what he has to offer.
The older I get, the more I realize how often I fall short. But I also realize more and more that God’s plan for my salvation was never based on my perfection. It was always based on his grace.
As regular readers of this column may remember, I’ve accumulated quite a collection of Christian T-shirts over the years. One of them sums up this entire discussion in four simple words.
“Not perfect. Just forgiven.”
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Sallie Rose Hollis lives in Ruston and retired from Louisiana Tech as an associate professor of journalism and the assistant director of the News Bureau. She can be contacted at sallierose@mail.com.
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