Fixing Me

Some days I wish I could fix me.

Friday was one of those days. Somehow I managed to have a great quiet time with the Lord and then follow up with a bad attitude for the rest of the morning. It started when I encountered people. You know, human beings. Sinners. Namely, the ones I live with.

Not that they did anything particularly wrong. They just went about being humans, and at this moment I happened to find humanity annoying. And I responded to their humanity by acting like a very small human.

Some people call it acting like a two-year old. I’m pretty sure moms aren’t supposed to say, “Stop it!” in their whiniest voice and stomp off to the kitchen. Or make sarcastic remarks about Daddy not helping when he’s standing right there.

Didn’t I just write a devotion about this last week?

Sigh.

I keep telling myself I’m not going to act like this anymore. I wake up and fall asleep praying in desperation for help with my sin. I read Scripture, memorize Scripture, listen to sermons, read books, confess my sin, ask others for accountability…important things. Not that I do them all at once, but over time, I’ll draw on all these weapons to fight my sin.

And then I sin again.

And again.

And again.

But guess what?

That’s okay.

No, really. It’s okay. I don’t have to get it right. I don’t have to have the complete and ultimate victory over sin, because Jesus already did:

We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. Galatians 2:16, ESV

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. Romans 8:1-4, ESV

The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in me. I don’t have to be righteous, because I get Jesus’s righteousness. When God looks at me, He sees the perfect wife, the perfect mom, the perfect friend, the perfect person. Because Jesus is the perfect person. And I’m in Him.

Please don't read this as saying we should not fight against sin. I’ll keep doing those important things to fight my sin. But I won’t give up when I sin again. I’ll rest in Jesus. I’ll thank Him for loving me. And I’ll thank Him that I don’t have to fix me.

Because He is stronger than me.

Thoughts? Leave a comment below.

Know someone who would be encouraged by this today? Please share!