But I…
…am not eloquent. – Moses (Exodus 3)
…am too old. – Sarah (Genesis 18)
…do not have anyone to help me. – Paralyzed man (John 5)
…am not old enough. – Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1)
Never once does Jesus call His children to be perfect. If we
could be sinless, then we would have no need for Him. This is why we need the
gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why we desperately need a Savior. Jesus died
the death we so rightfully deserved and in response to this He says follow me. If Jesus were to simply be
our cheerleader, He would be no Savior. He nods His head in agreement when we
fret about not having it all together because He knows we are not but He is. Jesus is. He declares, I am. Our identity is not our own, but
Christ working in and through us. Jesus is.
There is a particular woman in scripture that gets this
truth. She recognizes that she is nothing without Jesus. She recognizes that in
order to be fully His she needs to give herself fully. This woman in found in
Matthew 26 and Luke 7 where she chooses to pour her alabaster jar of perfume on
Jesus. For women of the time, this was their most prized possession. When she
broke the jar, she was giving all that she had to Jesus, including pride. This
was an act of giving her free will over to Jesus. This was her recognizing her
brokenness. This was her recognizing she is nothing without Jesus.
My prayer is that my petty complaints become prayers of
thanksgiving for my brokenness because it is through my brokenness I most rely
on Him. It is through our brokenness the glory of Christ is made known. We are
not, but Jesus is. He is strength, courage, beauty and every ounce of love. He
is everything I am not, yet He knows this and gives me grace daily. For this, I
am to simply respond by fully giving myself daily to follow Him.
For through the law I
died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ
and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body,
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians
2:19-20
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