I believe in Christianity this can be our biggest downfall.
We want everything to happen fast, we want it right away, and if things get
hard and it’s not easy then we just don’t put in the effort. But that’s not the
way God works. Our entire walk with God is a process, it takes time for Him to
work in our lives and mold us into the person He has created us to be. We are
full of imperfection and we are full of flaws that get in the way of us being
used to our fullest potential. God has to take those things and work them out
of us; He has to open our eyes to what is keeping us from walking with Him to
the fullest so that we can be aware of what we need to grow in. In our walk
with God we are constantly being shaped into the person that God has created us
to be, we are constantly growing.

The amazing thing about all of this is that God doesn’t want
all of this done before we come to Him. He doesn’t require that we have it all
together, He doesn’t require that we be this perfect person so that we can take
on this so called “walk with God.” The amazing thing about God is that He takes
us right we we’re at. He doesn’t require that you have your life together, He
doesn’t ask that you be this perfect presentation of a person, He doesn’t even
ask that you be well put together. He takes you just as you are, that’s it. God
is a God of those who are broken, those who are lost, those who have no hope,
those who feel lost, unappreciated, and without purpose. He sent His Son to die
for each and every one of us in our sinful state; He didn’t require that we
uphold a certain standard before He would send His son to take the penalty of
our sins for us. He sent His Son to die for our sins, to take the penalty that
we deserved, so that we didn’t have to. Knowing that we weren’t perfect,
knowing that we would still fail Him, knowing that we would let Him down
numerous times – He still loved us enough to take the punishment we so
rightfully deserved.

The truth is we will never be at a place in our lives where
we have everything together. We will never be perfect to the point where we can
come before God and have nothing in our life that needs to be worked on. If we
had it all together, then we would have no need for a Savior. The only way that
we can overcome those downfalls in our life is with His help, with His strength.
We can’t completely change without His hand in our lives; we don’t have the
power in our flesh to overcome it on our own. This is why we need the power of
a Savior. You cannot do it on your own.

You may be reading this right now, and be completely broken.
Broken to state that you don’t even know how you got to the place you are at,
or why you even deserve to be there. You’ve cried yourself to sleep numerous
times, you’ve cried out for help and no one has given you the time of day. No
one has taken the time to listen to you and hear the troubles that you face day
in and day out. You have been told time and time again that there is a God out
there who cares about you and who loves you, but there has never been one
person to show you that truth. Everyone you thought loved this God that you
hear so much about are the very people that have let you down. How could there
be a God out there who put you through all that you’re going through? What kind
of love is this? In desperate need of someone to reach out to you, to make you
feel that there is actually hope on the other end of this. You search
everywhere, for anyone who will show you the least bit of attention. Even if
the attention they give you is cruel and hurtful, as long as they come back and
say they love you, then at least you know you’re not alone. All you have ever
known is a love that hurts you. You may have made every mistake in the book,
everything you have ever been told not to do, you’ve done it. You may look at
yourself and not even recognize who you’ve become, you’re so far away from the person
you once were. You’ve been blinded by all the hurt that you have encountered
that you didn’t even notice your own life was spiraling out of control. You
just feel like at this point, there is no hope.

There is a God who loves you, a God who can offer hope to
the situation you are in. You don’t have to have it all together; you don’t
have to fix yourself before you call out to Him. He takes you right where you’re
at, mess and all. You may feel like you don’t know what love is, or even what
love feels like. But there is a God who loves you despite everything, He cares
for you tremendously and wants to pick up the broken pieces of your life. Why
does He even care about little old you? He
created you. He died for you. He loves you. Why wouldn’t He? The question is
not “Why would He?” But “Why wouldn’t He?” Why wouldn’t He want to pick up
the pieces of your broken life and make something beautiful? God doesn’t need
you to have it all together; He just needs you to trust Him with your whole heart.
You can only mask the hurt you feel for so long, you can only tape the pieces together
for so long, before they actually shatter beyond anything YOU can repair. God
wants to take you in your broken state and radically change your life.

Things won’t always be easy, in fact sometimes it’s hard.
When God comes in and heals those deep hurts, and shows you the areas that need
to be changed in your life, it isn’t always easy. It’s not always easy to face
the hurts and not be able to push them under. But God is always there to
strengthen you through it all. It’s less about the work that it takes and more
about the results you will see. When God comes in and radically changes your
life it’s all worth it in the end. You can’t microwave yourself to perfection,
you can’t rush the process. God will take you one step at a time and move in
your life in a way that will leave you hungry for more of His hand. It only
takes one encounter, one true divine encounter with the almighty God to change
your life – an encounter where the grace of God impacts your life right where
you are. Where it’s not about rules, or can and can’t, but about His grace that
covers all – a love that changes you.