Better View, Part 1Sample

Perfection

When you think about yourself—and I mean the real you, not the you that you pretend to be; not the you that you think everybody else needs, but your true self—who is that person? Are you happy with yourself? Are you content? Do you look at yourself and feel proud?

Or are you like most people, and you don’t like what you see in the mirror? You know yourself too well. You know that you’re inadequate. You’re afraid of failing. You know that you don’t measure up to life’s standards.

If you feel that way, first I want to tell you that you’re not alone. Everyone around you, no matter what they project on social media or how they act in front of you, struggles with that same feeling. But on an even deeper level, I want you to know that if you feel that way, you’re primed and ready for God to show Himself as He truly is in your life.

It’s hard to look at God with a sense other than our earthly eyes. It can be a challenge for us to believe that He is anything more than those we see around us—that He would love us better than our parents, or our friends, or the people who are supposed to love us well. And if we’re honest, even the best people with the best of intentions sometimes fail at loving us the way that we need.

So it’s sometimes hard to think that God could do any better. But the fact is that His love is so much better than anything else we can ever experience in this life. And though it’s hard to understand it, and it’s hard to believe it, it’s the truth: Right now, today, with all your shortcomings and all your insecurities, He loves you completely.

Psalm 103:9-13 NLT says: 

He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.

When all we see are the flaws in ourselves—when all we see are our shortcomings—He sees perfection. He sees someone who is as clean and pure as fresh snow is white. All that we’ve done has been cast as far as the east is from the west—from sunrise to sunset.

Through Christ, our flaws and sins are not even in our heavenly Father’s field of vision. He looks at us solely with compassion and tenderness and kindness. Be encouraged by that today, that the God of the universe sees you in this way.

Listen to Perfection on the Switch Music YouTube channel or at life.church/worship