Lately I have been doing a lot of thinking on this topic:
We aren’t perfect. At all.
God IS perfection. All the time.
We will NEVER be perfect. Thanks Adam and Eve.
God is ETERNALLY perfect. Must be nice.
This probably all seems really elementary in thought, and actually on my screen as well. And it is. But, to expand on these truths, I have been pondering this reality:
We are imperfect people,
Called to represent perfection. Christ.
How?
From a fellow believer’s perspective, this may be easy to “cope” with. We understand that perfection is out of our reach. We understand that Jesus Christ is the definition of perfection. We understand that it is necessary to repent, forgive, restitute and all that mess that comes with turning from your mess ups.
But what about those who are peeking into the stained glass windows?
What do they see?
What do they think?
What do they believe about us as people?
What view are they getting of the One who matters?
Christianity in this matter, is just like a stained glass window.
Originally, God created the glass without sin.
Without stain.
Without pictures.
Everything was clear. You knew exactly what you were seeing when looking into faith and Christianity.
But, sin stained that window.
We stained that window.
Over and over again.
Everyday.
Have you ever seen a stained glass window?
Generally, they are beautiful. Full of color. Full of pictures. Full of emotion.
HOW is this sin?
When we decide that, yes, we are a population of imperfect believers of One who is perfect and that although we ARE going to mess up, we make valiant effort to both learn from those sins, repent, restitute, and turn from that sin, it becomes quite beautiful in picture. In color. In emotion.
Jesus knows that we are going to mess up.
Sin.
Eat our words.
Backslide.
BUT,
Nothing makes Christ happier than to see us completely turn from that sin and redirect our focus on preserving His perfect name in our actions of REPENTANCE and RESTITUTION and CHANGE OF HEART.
When we truly live by these virtues, God makes our sin a beautiful story told through beautiful
Colors.
Pictures.
Emotion.
When we embrace this lifestyle, our stains on that perfect stainless view into Christ
are used
to tell the story
of Christ forgiveness.
of Christ’s grace.
His mercy.
Of Christ’s PERFECTION.
When pre-believers are standing on the outside, looking through that window, the image isn’t clouded,
it isn’t distorted.
IT IS STAINED, yes.
Stained to see the beautiful story of Christ. That WE got to tell. Stained to embrace people as people. Sinful.
But, living our lives to do all we possibly can to use OUR stains to tell Christ’s stainless story.
Are we showing pre-believers that their stains are part of the story? Are we inviting them to add their own colors?
own pictures?
own emotions?
Are we throwing our own colors on the window with no intention to work with our Creator to create a beautiful masterpiece on the glass?
Are we coming to church, saying the words,
feeling the pull of the Holy Spirit’s conviction,
and putting stains on the window but not doing the work to make them tell the story of Christ?
Are you staining a picture
Or staining ON a picture?
As for me, myself, and I, I am going to choose to live life so that the stains that I do make are followed by my willingness to let Christ guide my hand in the process of transforming my stains into His glory. His masterpiece.
His stained glass.
So at the end of it all, when I am standing before the King, he will be able to see nothing else through the stains
but
the reflection of Perfection.
Stay Tuned for Profound Thoughts.
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