How many times have you felt like you will never be good enough? How many times have you thought that all you seem to be able to do good is mess things up? How many times have you thought that you had to be or do better before God would approve of you? Well I have struggled with all those thoughts and feelings for many years. Not long ago I was watching a teaching and it was about those same things. It was one of those, what I call, light bulb moments. You know, one of those moments when all the sudden you have a deep understanding about something.

The truth is that none of us are good. All of us are a mess up. We all fall short of God’s glorious standards. BUT that is the very reason that God sent Jesus. Because of Jesus, and only Jesus, are we able to be good. Only because of Jesus are we able to not mess up as much. And only because of Jesus does God accept us just as we are.

In and of ourselves we are unable to produce any kind of a good thing. But because of Jesus living on the inside of us and equipping us with what we need we can do good. But make no mistake that our do does not make our who. Who we are is not determined by what we do. Because of Jesus we are already perfect on the inside (our spirit). We have the seed of perfection in the deepest part of our hearts. And we spend our lives with that seed growing and the outward actions of us changing. As the seed grows we make changes in our actions, our thoughts, our words, and our attitudes. And that is what matters to God. He made a part of perfect so that the rest of us will be able to become perfect once we reach heaven.

It is hard to accept the fact that someone could love all the dark and ugly parts of us. It is hard to believe that God approves of us while we are such a mess. But He knew what we were going to be like and every last thing that we would ever do before He ever called us to himself. We are no surprise to Him at all. What matters to him is that we allow Him to grow the seed within us and follow His Holy Spirits guidance to be a bright light in the darkness and to have a life that reflects His glory. He wants us to be totally dependent on Him because if we are not then we will not be at our best, reflecting His glory.

Starting today will you decide that you are going to be totally dependent on God? Will you ask for and receive His help with everything that you do? Will you accept His hand and let Him love you into wholeness, leading a life that glorifies Him? Without Jesus we are a lost cause. BUT with Him we are victorious!