He Perfects
/So, we are into the first week after the launch of my website & blog, and to be honest, I am just trying to figure out what this looks like!! Lately, my writing has been confined to the limited characters on Instagram, or free-form journaling in my many journals, or "LONG-winded" texts to friends, endless thoughts & devotional excerpts on my iphone "notes"-- so now I have a space and platform to write, but I'm sort of feeling at a loss. I have so many things on my heart, but where do I start? How many times a week should I post or write on this blog? Leading up to launch, I was writing at least once, if not multiple times a day! So part of this post is to ask.... how often would you like to hear from me? What are the things most weighing on your heart that you'd like to be encouraged about? Truly, I want to know!!! I'm here to serve you and help build a safe space of community and encouragement. Please, please let me know what you think! Reply to this post, send me a message, send me a text, leave a comment!
When I quickly decided to launch this blog, I was doing out of obedience to where the Lord was leading me. I shared that when excellence is taken to far it can lead to perfection. In order to prevent, & simplify we must ask the question of "when is 'good enough' good enough?" This convicted and prompted me to move forward with the launch (with little planning) knowing that it was "good enough" and letting the Lord move!
Tonight my husband and I read from "Grace for the Moment" our devotion that we have started doing in the evenings, "dinner & devotion." It was literally titled "Perfected".... just what I needed! The devotion had scriptures from Hebrews 10 and talked about the way that JESUS PERFECTS, it is not of our doing.
"For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”" Hebrews 10:14-17
"Underline the word perfect. Note that the word is not better. Not improving. Not on the upswing. God doesn't improve; he perfects. He doesn't enhance; he completes..... Now I realize that there's a sense in which we're imperfect. We still err. We still stumble. We still do exactly what we don't want to do. And that part of us is, according to the verse, "being made holy." But when it comes to our position before God, we're perfect. When he sees each of us, he sees one who has been made perfect through the ONE who is perfect-- Jesus Christ." - Excerpt from 'Grace for the Moment' by Max Lucado
So tonight, I'm really letting that truth sink in. Jesus alone perfects us, we are perfected by Him. There is nothing we can do to add or takeaway. When it comes to anything else and striving for perfection, (our writing, work, relationships, homes, families, etc etc etc) it doesn't matter or even compare to the way the Jesus perfects us and completes us. We are made perfect through the ONE who is perfect. Also notice Hebrews 10:16, which is actually cross referenced from Jeremiah 31:33! The Lord puts the law, HIS WORD, in our hearts, and writes them on our minds. You see, this is also part of the heart refining process, letting God's truth be written on our hearts as we are being made holy, more into His image. Yes, Jesus does the perfecting in our hearts and minds.
So let me ask you this question, where have you taken excellence to far to perfection? And where do you need to let "good enough" be good enough? I am truly stepping into this whole blog thing by Letting Go and LETTING GOD, trusting Him to do the work, let HIM give me the words, this too is a refining process of my own heart!
