07/30/2025
Are we holding back from opening our hearts up to God until we have perfected ourselves? Are we waiting for a time when we have become perfectly pure in thought before we will seek to have a relationship with Jesus? If so, then we will never know Him or God. But thankfully they understand what and who we are, and they love us in spite of ourselves. Let’s face this truth that God already knows and let Him begin the process of reshaping us into righteous creatures who can stand confident in Christ before His throne of judgement.
“But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”
John 2:24-25 ESV
When we face a perfect God and His Son Jesus, it embarrasses us to reveal ourselves. In reading this you might be saying "Not me!" To which I quickly reply "really?"
A few years ago on a winter morning, I pulled into the parking lot at work. There were patches of black ice on the roads and parking lot that were the remnants of an ice storm a few days earlier. Once safely in a parking space I sighed a sigh of relief at having made it to work without wrecking my car. Then I gathered my things, and stepped out of the car, closing the car door behind me. Carefully I took one step and then another, but on my third step my feet flew out from beneath me and I landed flat on my Keister (my rear end). I jumped up so quickly that it shocked me, and before taking a breath I looked around to see who had witnessed my fall. I was embarrassed by my imperfection. I didn't want anyone laughing at my misstep.
Don’t we all want to appear to be perfect before those around us and go to great lengths to uphold this ruse? Many fantastic lies have been concocted over time in order to achieve this... some were told to others, and some to convince ourselves. We try to hide our true, fallible, self from God as well, and when we don't have confidence in our lies, we hide. This is our nature, and it has been going on since Adam and Eve took that infamous first bite of the forbidden fruit. When they fell, they didn't want God to see them either...
“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”
Genesis 3:8 ESV
I wonder equally about Adam's response when God called him out. Listen to Adam...
“And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself."”
Genesis 3:10 ESV
Was that a half truth? Was he more ashamed of having done what God had told him not to do? Was His claim of nakedness just a lesser plea in a world of sin that he had opened up through his disobedience? Was he jumping up off the parking lot and looking around to see if anyone had witnessed his fall?
God knows us, and He knows our nature. There is nothing we can do that will surprise Him... neither good nor bad. No lie will cover up who we are, and yet He still sees something in us worth saving; so much so that He sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, to die for us... to redeem us.
I find God's response to Adam's confession of nakedness to be all-telling. Listen to the Lord’s words...
“He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"”
Genesis 3:11 ESV
God took Adam's claim of embarrassment, stripped it away and went right to the heart of what had happened... "Have you eaten of the tree?" Of course, this was a rhetorical question because God already knew, but Adam immediately tried to shift blame for his actions in the second revelation concerning his nature... he made excuses.
“The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate."”
Genesis 3:12 ESV
This is also our nature... Adam's, mine, and yours. This is what God knows about us from the moment of our conception. So, if He knows this, and if we are unmistakably fallible, then how can we ever approach Him, or have a relationship with Him? He will always be there when we land on our keister in the parking lot... there is no hiding it. No there isn't, but God's grace supersedes our fallen nature. The life, death, resurrection, and ascension of His Son Jesus Christ has picked us up off the ice, dusted us off, and is now walking us through the door into a new life. I like Pastor Oswald Chambers' description of Jesus' understanding of our nature, and the power of God's grace. And it goes like this...
"Our Lord trusted no man, yet He was never suspicious, never bitter. Our Lord's confidence in God and in what His grace could do for any man, was so perfect that He despaired of no one." - Oswald Chambers
Don't postpone knowing God for that time when you think that you can traverse the ice of life without falling. Don't expect to be pure or perfect by your own intellect or devices, because it will never happen. As much as we would like to be without shortcomings, they are a part of our human nature. Perfecting ourselves requires the grace of God, and that comes by establishing a relationship with Him and Jesus.
Yes, we will take spills, tell lies, deceive ourselves and others, but we will also be remorseful after having been convicted by our spirit, and by our contrition God will lift us up, brush us off, and say "Let's try again." He knows all of our abilities, and inabilities; he knows us for who we are even before our feet come out from under us, so take his hand and say "I fell, Father, can you help me up?"
Prayer:
Father, thank you for loving me despite my many shortcomings. Thank you for offering me a relationship with you that will redeem me from sin and provide me with the purity that I can't achieve on my own. Holy Father, you know me better than I know myself; you hear my lies before they leave my lips and see my fall before my foot ever slips. Holy Father, sear my lips with your cleansing coal, and hold my foot fast as I follow you. I am able to love you because you first loved me, and I have faith in you because you have never deserted me. Lord Jesus, walk with me and perfect me in purity and faith; never let me out of your sight, and let me know you are with me always, even to the end of the age. Keep me away from my hiding place, even in my most undeserving and embarrassing moments, lead me always, as I confess and ask forgiveness for those things I have attempted to hide in my heart. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you Heavenly Father for you are my God, and you love me always. Holy are you Abba who are merciful, full of grace, and forgiving. I praise you Lord with my every breath and I give you all the honor and glory for what you have done, are doing, and promise yet to do in me through Jesus. Cover me with the blood of your Son Jesus Christ and see His face instead of mine when I stand before you in judgement. When you ask me if I am worthy hear me say “Not of myself Father, but it is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. I have been crucified with Him… have mercy on my soul.” Hear this my prayer Lord, and know my heart that loves you, and longs to spend eternity in your presence.
Amen, Amen, Amen!
“We love because he first loved us.”
1 John 4:19 ESV
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
Matthew 28:19-20 ESV
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20 ESV
Rich Forbes