I ChooseSample

I Choose Power Over Perfection

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” A.W. Tozer

When I became a Christ follower, I had a graceless view of God. I believed salvation required daily transactions in which I would redeem my sins for more grace. If I missed just one sin, God would hold me accountable. That belief allowed me to fly high when I felt I was meeting God’s expectations and suddenly plummet into fear when I made a mistake.

The up-and-down cycle trapped me on a treadmill repeating the same loop: repenting, gloating, falling, and loathing. This inaccurate concept of God kept me from maturing and forced me to fight a joyless battle against my sin that Jesus had already won. When I first realized this, I felt like I’d invested too much into the treadmill of self-reliance to give it up. Maybe I had perfected parts of my faith. I didn’t want to give up all that work.

Thankfully, as the Holy Spirit revealed more to me about God’s grace, I gradually realized my work to gain God’s satisfaction wasn’t worth saving at all. I realized I couldn’t add to grace, and if I never sinned again—if I did everything right—I would never deserve God’s forgiveness.

Ephesians 2:10 bumped me off the back of the treadmill once and for all. I was created for a specific purpose! I finally chose to fully accept Jesus’ forgiveness so that I could get on with more important work. You may believe in Jesus, but have you fully accepted what He did for you? The Holy Spirit is still helping me to choose His power over my perfection, and He’s leading me toward uniquely curated assignments along the way—things I would’ve never seen from my treadmill.

Pray: Holy Spirit, will You help me to forsake joyless perfection and experience God’s tender forgiveness and powerful grace in my entire life? Will You help me to show the same to others?

Michael Martin, web developer at YouVersion