I thought I was done with my series on faithfulness, but there’s one more thing I think needs to be said, and it’s important:
Being faithful does not mean you have to be perfect.
It doesn’t mean you always do it right, or that you do it 100% of the time, that you never have bad days or need a break.
I’m convinced that God doesn’t look at our actions as much as He looks at our hearts. And having a faithful heart doesn’t mean you’re always consistently successful at being faithful and obedient in some area or task. Having a faithful heart means you desire to live for God more than for yourself, and being a faithful steward means that you keep doing your best to serve Him in all of your brokenness and fallen-ness. And you don’t let the bad days completely derail you from getting back up and trying your best.
Because that’s all He asks. He knows that we’re fallen, and broken, and cursed, and made out of dirt. He knows we’re not capable of being perfect or doing life perfectly. That’s why he sent His son to be perfect for us, so we could live under the protection of His grace.
Perfectionism is bondage. Jesus came to set us free.
You don’t have to be a perfect housekeeper, or employee, or wife, or mother, or anything. You don’t have to perfectly stick to your diet and never skip the gym and you don’t even have to always get dressed or comb your hair or even get out of bed.
You’re allowed to fail and to do it wrong sometimes and to sometimes not even do it at all.
Faithfulness only requires holding it–whatever your “it” is–out to God with open hands and a surrendered heart and saying, “This is the best I can do today, Lord, and I offer it up to you.”
And that’s enough.
You’re enough.
Love,
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PS: Find more encouragement for your soul at these linkups:
Holley Gerth’s Coffee For Your Heart
Missional Women’s Faith Filled Fridays
#DreamTogether at God-Sized Dreams
PPS: Looking for some a-MAZ-ing tools and resources to help you be more productive, write better and/or generally do life while keeping your sanity? I’ve got the goods — sign up to receive Daydreamer Dispatches, a once- or twice-a-month newsletter from yours truly, and you’ll automatically receive a super-sekrit link to My Absolute Must-Have, Can’t Live Without Tools and Resources list! Click here to get your link!
A Jesus girl through and through, Jean Marie Bauhaus is on a journey of healing and rediscovering who God purposefully created her to be and figuring out how to do life within that context. She’s the wife of Matt and mom to a crew of four-legged dependents, all of whom make their home in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jean counts coffee, dark chocolate and a yarn addiction among her vices. She’s the author of Restless Spirits, a family-friendly paranormal romance/mystery now available from Vinspire Publishing. You can learn more about her novels and short fiction at jeanmariebauhaus.com.
Amen, Jeanie! I needed that today! Great reminder that, “We do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way-just as we are-yet He did not sin.” Hebrews 4:13 Once again, it’s the whole faithfulness-obedience cycle idea…He sees our heart to be faithful, and HE enables us to succeed in the long run because of His own faithfulness to us. Apart from Him, we can do nothing, right?
Oh, excellent verse! I forgot about that one. And you’re so right. Thanks so much for supporting and commenting, friend.
This is so true. We all strive to be that perfect mom or wife and it just ain’t gonna happen! But God is sufficient, thankfully. And thanks for the reminder. #Coffeeforyourheart
It’s so easy to get hung up on striving for perfection, though, and to get discouraged when it doesn’t happen. Thank God we can relax and stop trying so hard. Thanks for stopping by!
Good advice! It’s easy for our good intentions to become burdens and for us to feel bad if we don’t manage to follow through perfectly. It’s so important to remember God’s grace and that we can get back up and try again. Visiting from Coffee For Your Heart.
That’s so true Lesley. Thanks for stopping by!
Jean, this is so beautiful and a great reminder that faithfulness is more about our heart and attitude than our works. I remember doing a bible study about David. And it really struck me that he was a pretty flawed character. He did some pretty bad things, and yet God called him a man after his own heart. Not because he was perfect or led a perfect life, or almost perfect life and made all wise choices. No, it was because he loved God so much and when he was wrong he repented. His heart was turned towards God and was surrendered to his will.
I recently completed a study of 1st and 2nd Samuel and I was struck by the same thing. God gave David so much grace, and that same grace is available to us today — even more abundantly through Christ!
Thanks, Theresa, for stopping by!
Thank you for this encouragement. I needed to hear the last few lines, that whatever I offer is enough.
Hi Sarah, thanks for stopping by. That’s definitely something we all need to remember!