On Seeking Perfection

I am Melanie, and I am letting go of perfection. 

This is a scary thing for two reasons. 1) I am a seeker of perfection and have often driven myself crazy as I strive. 2) Doesn't Jesus call us to be perfect just as He is perfect? 

Yes, he does, but he doesn't call us to work and achieve and beat ourselves up when we fail. He calls us to himself, He draws us near, and the closer we become to His heart, the more in unison our hearts will beat with His. The goal is not the trying, the striving. The goal is to be Holy as I AM is Holy. We can only reach such perfection when we release our efforts and accept the life changing, new-covenant-making, total atonement of the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. 

He became our once-for-all sacrificial lamb. 

This doesn't mean we give up, stop seeking, or accept our sinful state as part of the deal. Absolutely NOT. By receiving that redemptive blood of Christ over your sinful heart, you have been given new life. We begin to stumble along beside our Master and experience discipleship for all it's worth. We are created to learn from Him, to long to be like Him. 

It all starts with believing in the Lord Jesus and accepting His all-surpassing grace and love into our lives. Then we offer all we have back to him--our love. Jesus will know the truth of our love by our obedience, and our obedience is simply the outpouring of our heart's desire to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.  

There is no striving, no achieving involved. Only grace. Only love. Only pursuit of the One who has given us life. We can't know our Lord intimately and not experience His holiness as a part of our life. He commanded us to be perfect, knowing it would be the natural result of a life truly and wholly in love with Him. 

Freedom.

Routine Blows

I mean seriously. Granted, I could probably have worded this blog title a little more appropriately...  I just figured why bother being demure when I'm about to post about how getting situated and all nested in is terrible for your spiritual life.

Lately, I'd been getting situated in a routine where I was really productive. I was getting a ton done, getting talks and studies ready for Youth Group, memorizing scripture with the teens, and in general doing all the things I thought I should be doing.

Somewhere along the line, I feel like I've forgotten to stop and smell the roses. I forgot to enjoy the feeling of the arctic chill when I walk outside and I'm honestly cold. I forgot what satisfaction there could be in doing something well...and something out of the ordinary.

Right now, I feel like I need to mix things up a bit in my life. I've gotten situated in this whole "sub to earn money, spend the rest of your time on the Youth Group" thing going. Then the last few weeks have been crazy, what with Thanksgiving and the National Youth Worker's Convention we went to. (Thanks, Spring Arbor FMC for paying our ticket cost!)  All that break in routine just made me realize how unsatisfied I am with it. We weren't meant for consistency.

As humans, we seem to crave stability, safety, and predictability...but I wonder why we think it's important. Why do we need to know where next month's meal is coming from?

Now don't get me wrong, I have money in the bank in case of a 'rainy day.' But that doesn't mean that I don't question why I feel like I need more stability. If we really trusted God, would we need the money in the bank to feel secure? Why in the world do we value our routine and shelter in it like a suit of armor? Why do we as Americans put so much time and effort into walling the moving Spirit of God out of our lives and decisions?

So I'm here to tell you that I think routine isn't just overrated, it flat out blows. I think that routine is Satan's way of getting into our psyche. If he can get us to value our routine, then we'll do our part to silence God's voice when He tries to move in our lives. I don't want to block God out.

God, mix up my life a bit, I think it'd do me some good.