One fact that sometimes seems to go unnoticed or at least to my point of view not stressed enough in Sunday School, is the fact that the characters in the Bible were very often flawed to say the least, very human indeed, but were vital in the story that is, The Bible. We often stress the goodness of the people in the Bible to the point that it seems that, if you are not a perfect person, then somehow you don't measure up to what you should be. If that is the case, which it surely isn't, all of us would be left behind and we would have missed the entire point of the gospel.
King David for years was my favorite character, a very flawed man indeed, more than, I would dare say most of us, unless of course you happen to be a murderer. And what a family he had, and we think we have some black sheep in our families, or some problem people, take a look at King David's family. I won't go into great detail here, but the list of murder, incest, adultery, betrayal, plotting to murder, wow, and we thought we had problems!
After the first fifteen years of being a pastor, I could only smile when someone would ask the question, how can a Christian do this? Or do that? At that point I knew again, that someone just either hadn't been taught grace, or didn't understand it. I believe the last three years of being a pastor, I stressed grace more than any subject, probably because I was experiencing so many things in my life, and it was the most important thing to me. It was the theme that kept me sane and the heart of what we call the gospel.
The phrase none of us are perfect! Many would say even I am sure I have said, we use that phrase as a cop out, an excuse for not measuring up to the standard. My question is? Whose standard? If we say, well of course the standard is what God expects from us. Well that standard is perfection! Zero mistakes, Zero bad thoughts, zero bad habits, you not only have to do everything perfect, you even have to know everything so you don't miss something that you should have done perfect that you didn't know to do perfectly! Ouch, I'm already getting headache thinking about all that.
The phrase none of us are perfect, is, perfectly correct. And just to say this, even though I know it may upset some, it is okay not to be perfect. What rest is there in trying to be perfect? What peace is there in trying to be perfect? Oh my, for those of us who have tried, you know the pain, the frustration of that futile endeavor.
That is why there was someone, the only one who could, lived a perfect life, died a criminal death even though he was and is the only completely innocent man that has ever lived, and paid the ultimate price for those who are, yes, not perfect.
So that, we who are not and never will be perfect in this life are now and forever more made perfect in Him. We call that the now but not yet, but that topic is for another blog. That is the Gospel that is grace.
King David, who was a very real man. You can read of his emotions, his love, anger, despair, lust, he was human. He made huge mistakes but never ever forgot the One who is full of grace.
Two more people in the bible I will look at in the next few blogs will be Solomon, and Jonah. And all I can say is oh my.
My point in all of this I guess would be. All of us have problems; some are more evident than others. All of us make mistakes. And yes, none of us are perfect. But there is One and only One that can give us rest and peace from the insanity of trying to be perfect by are on efforts, and that is God.
