forgiveness

Nobody’s Perfect

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

It is interesting, how we expect people to be perfect. Non-Christians despise Christians because of their imperfections. Christians leave churches because of other Christians’ weaknesses. We cannot seem to get past the fact that man, even Christian man, makes mistakes – sometimes horrible mistakes. Why? Where did we get this idea that Christians are perfect? That any man is even capable of perfection?

Look closely at well-known Bible stories and you quickly discover just how imperfect our heroes really were. Moses, my personal favorite, had such a temper that it caused him to first flee Egypt and then lose the right to enter the Promised Land. Abraham walked in fear where his wife was concerned and practiced deceit as a result. So did Isaac. Jacob deceived his own father. David gave in to base lust, then murdered a man. Solomon… Wow.

From our earliest days, man has been imperfect. This is exactly why we needed a Savior, the Perfect Lamb. Having accepted His sacrifice, His great love that takes me – imperfect as I am – and makes me His own, I do not have the right to hold other Christians’ imperfections again them.

As was true in the past, it is true today. Nobody’s perfect.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Forgive Me

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

I’ve been thinking some more about unforgiveness. I’m pretty good at forgiving. I try hard to give people the benefit of the doubt and accept them for what they are instead of having unrealistic expectations…to let go.

Other people, that is.

Forgiving myself is another matter entirely. It seems like every time I turn around God is saying, “Tammy, we’ve had this conversation before. I forgave you. If I forgave you, you can certainly forgive yourself.” Most recently, it was…

We’ve been over this. Holding onto your own past mistakes is twice as destructive as holding onto the mistakes of others… Don’t you realize how much Paul had to forgive himself for? You’ve never murdered anyone; he did. He had so much wrong in his life… but he was able to forgive himself so completely that he was able to stand before the very people he had been killing and say, “I have wronged no man.” And he meant it.

You are a new creation every time you ask me for forgiveness, Tammy. Let that old creature go!”

None of us are perfect. This is one fact we should always remember as we are put in positions were we need to forgive – especially when the ones needing forgiven are Me, Myself, and I.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C