How to become a perfect failure.

^"Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus."  Philippians 3:12

If you are like me, at the completion of reading the above passage of scripture, you are probably humming "Eye of the Tiger" and have started planning your workout regimen of prayer and bible reading so that you can 'beat the bus' in life's spiritual marathon.  This is a great verse... it's an inspiring verse - but there's another verse that I believe we should always read directly following it.

 ^"And He has said to me, 'grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me."
2 Corinthians 12:9

This is complicated. We have two verses, both written by Paul: one speaks of striving towards perfection and the other one talks about boasting about weakness.  So are we supposed to try to be perfect or boast about weakness: both.  (Boasting, might be a bit strong here: "Hey guys, check out how angry I get!")  The point here is that we are made perfect through God's grace - it's not something we could do by our self.  We should strive to become more like Christ, but we need to realize it is not our doing.


I have been wrestling with an idea for a couple of weeks now.  What if it's because of this balance (being perfect vs. showing weakness) that the church is so often viewed as "a bunch of hypocrites" (and quite correctly sometimes)?  Maybe the problem isn't that we make mistakes - but that we so painstakingly (and unsuccessfully) try to hide them.  It's almost as if we are trying to hide the grace of God in our lives.   Instead of hiding our imperfections we should be showing how God takes them and redeems them. We do need to put sin behind us and move forward - but we should not hide the grace that God has shown us. 

We don't like scars because they are ugly and remind of us past pain, but scars also show something else - healing.   It's my opinion that we should be sharing Jesus with the world through our love, but also through our scars.   People can relate to pain, they can't relate to perfection. I am positive that no one has ever looked at me and said: "how can I reach that level of perfection?" (And for obvious reason.)  However, if I can show them the grace that Jesus has shown me in my weakness, that's different.  Grace is something that every imperfect person craves.

I have some more thoughts on this subject, but I'm interested in what you think... so let's hear it.