A New Way of Looking at Flaws

Through my marriage the Holy Spirit continues to open my eyes to areas of my life that I desperately need help with. I mean living with another human, especially a man, reveals a lot about ourselves and our flaws -- which is one of the reasons why God created marriage.

Today, I want to introduce, or remind you of, a new way of looking at the people in our lives and their flaws.

We look at people all around us and can easily see areas in their life in which they struggle with -- anger, jealousy, gossip, spending too much money, overeating, cheating, lying, etc. -- making it all to easy to focus on people's flaws.

HERE COMES THE MIND BLOWING PART

But what if we were to instead look at people in a humble spirit of being used by God to help them grow and heal in areas such as their flaws?

How shocked would you be if instead of people ignoring you, yelling at you, judging you, talking bad about you for the things you do wrong, they stuck around?

What if they not only stuck around, but they encouraged you in the areas you are prone to be weak in?

What if they loved you despite the glaring skeletons in your closet?

What if they continually prayed for you specifically in areas of your life where it is needed most?

What if they gave you advice in a loving way that God placed on their heart?

Just think about that for a moment...I would feel extremely loved and honored. I am betting you would too.

BUT HOW?

God is this person to us. His son, Jesus died on the cross for all of us to save us from our sins or mistakes (as maybe a skeptic would say). He is an all powerful & perfect God and yet every single time we mess up, he sticks around. He never leaves. In fact, we are the ones who draw away from Him because we feel ashamed. God loves us perfectly, encourages us, comforts us, teaches us, and empowers us daily with the Holy Spirit.

When we accept Jesus into our hearts, we have that very same power! (Romans 8:11) We can now look at people in our lives as opportunities for God to use us to draw them close to Jesus. The Holy Spirit gives us the strength to continue to pursue people around us even when they wrong us because we know they don't satisfy us, only God does.

SO LET'S DO IT

Let's start changing lives, one day, one person, one conversation at a time! Lets stop thinking about how to satisfy our desires and rather dwell on the fact only God can.

Then let's love people how Christ loves us. And let's call upon the Holy Spirit to give us the strength, because it is only through Him we can love selflessly, because he is love. (1 John 4:8).