THIS IMPERFECT JOURNEY

Christianity is hard!!! I remember saying this to myself one day after another one of my many slip-ups.

When I decided to live my life actively for Christ, everything seemed easy, I was on a spiritual high, and there was no messing with me. Then the initial gragra started to wane, and I began to have my being a Christian is really hard moments.

Everybody makes mistakes, but when Christians do, it’s different. Unbelievers use it as a yardstick to justify their actions. Some other believers think it’s proof that you were never really saved. It seemed that all you had to do was follow a set of rules and never have struggles (a.k.a be perfect). It was hard. Christianity wasn’t hard perfection was.

Other Christians seemed to have it easy, were doing great, and I was barely getting by. Whenever I had talks with people about issues I was having, I got the “can’t relate to this look” like I was in it alone. It turned out they had mastered the art of covering things up.

( Dear, sometimes confused and battling with sins Christian friend, you are not alone. I repeat you are NOT alone)

In the first place, Jesus never claimed that life as a disciple would be hassle-free and easy-breezy. If anything, the struggle against sin is one that every Christian must face, and these struggles are real.

I had a lot of what have I done? I don’t know how to pray about these moments; sometimes, I would start to pray and then stop. Something inside me would say not so soon after you have done this, wait a little longer, let God’s anger calm down a bit (lol). Isn’t the Devil just a liar? Filling my head with all sorts of excuses not to pray to weigh me down with guilt and even sometimes saying, “you don’t have to pray God sees your heart and how badly you feel he has forgiven you.”

The bible says,

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Confession is key. You have to tell God how sorry you are. It doesn’t matter how many times you have committed the same sin. He is faithful and just to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness. Not first-time unrighteousness but ALL. It’s not enough to feel guilty; Confession and repentance are what God seeks.

You are never too neck-deep in sin to be forgiven.

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. Romans 5:6-11 NLT.

Every time I start to ruin a beautiful moment with God with thoughts of how imperfect, unreliable, sinful, and not worth it I am. I think of one of my favorite quotes.

THE PERFECT IS THE ENEMY OF THE BEAUTIFUL

Although I recently found out it actually is “the perfect is the enemy of the good” (I’m sticking to the former ‘cos it was there for me when the latter was still somewhere in cyberspace.) As much as we want to be good followers of Christ and live a perfect life as he did, it’s important to remember that God alone is perfect.

Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!” Matthew 26:41