God Wants Us That Way

Learn how God values imperfection.

“…for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” - 1 Samuel 16:7 (Image: Unsplash)

Most people are perfectionists about one thing or another. We like our coffee to be a specific temperature, our sweaters to be a certain level of softness, our houses to reflect our personalities, and our style to be just right. Or we will not be happy.

Most of us are a bit obsessive about our idea of perfect. In Goldilocks’ words, everything must be “just right,” or our perception of life on this earth will be skewed. We want to think that such a feat is possible, and we certainly hear enough people on the internet and in our relationships saying that such a thing can be achieved.

But what if it’s not? What if perfection is indeed impossible? What if we are wasting time trying to “be perfect” or have that highest honor?

1st Peter 2:9 said, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a PECULIAR people.” Merriam-Webster defines the word PECULIAR as eccentric or unusual. It also means someone who breaks away from the conventional thoughts and actions of others and carves their distinctive path.

When you look at the word this way, it should be viewed as a mark of honor, a badge of courage that helps us stand out. After all, God said that we were royalty to him. We are cut from a different cloth.

Nevertheless, that word, PECULIAR, creates quite an egotistical tug-of-war in people’s ears. Why? Because although we identify as individuals who are different from everyone else, we don’t want to be known as weird or strange to others. We tend to file the word PECULIAR as wrong or shameful.

We want to be individuals but don’t want to be labeled as weird, strange, or bad for doing so. If anything, we want to be celebrated and looked at as a leader for stepping out on our own.

So, you may ask yourself, if it’s a good thing to be peculiar, why do we hate hearing that word? Because this world has succeeded in connecting Peculiarity with IMPERFECTION!

For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was - James 1:24 (Image: Unsplash)

Romans 15:7 states that God accepts us just the way we are. He does not require us to be perfect. Did you think you were also expected to be perfect because GOD is perfect? No, friend! That’s far from the truth.

God accepts us just as we are because he wants to mold us into perfection. God, the ultimate carpenter, is the best at taking imperfect things and making them brand new.

Let me explain:

To God, all of your efforts to stand out and be viewed by man as perfect are nothing more than an act. It is a good performance, I’ll admit, but nothing more. You may think you have everything together, but God can see what’s happening behind the scenes, and you are not fooling him.

He can see the tears you cry, the hundreds of dollars you spend buying makeup to cover the tear stains on your face, the way you misinterpret the bible to match your earthly viewpoints, how many times you’ve hyped yourself up for a promotion that was not meant for you, your years of sacrifice and self-sabotage to get praise from your peers. He sees it all, and he is not pleased.

Just stop.

2nd Corinthians 12:8-10 says that God’s grace is sufficient for us. HE is made perfect for our weakness. Meaning that our imperfections actually draw God closer to us, not repel him. Our imperfections make us attractive to God, but imperfections alone do nothing without total trust in him.

In this case, imperfection is translated as DEPENDENCE, meaning that our shortcomings are the reason why we need GOD. And his grace, the unyielding forgiveness that God offers those who trust in him, will fill in those imperfect cracks in our spirit and make us whole.

When God looks at us, he sees imperfection because of our sins—because man’s sins are flesh-deep and cannot be removed naturally. But when we accept Jesus (the PERFECT SACRIFICE) as our savior and live on this Earth as his son did, God then looks at us through Jesus’ eyes. We are still imperfect in our flesh but now forgiven by God’s grace.

Do you still think that being imperfect or peculiar is a bad thing? Try Jesus for yourself, and see the difference that serving God can make in your imperfect life.