Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Character Flaws covered by Grace

Each person who exists today is flawed or one day will be. Unfortunately, our list becomes longer over the years.  This weekend I was reminded of some of  my flaws.  I will be honest, initially hearing someone point out those flaws can be very painful, especially when it's done in an attacking manner, without love. BUT - for the first time ever, I was okay with knowing that I am flawed and own those flaws. Why? How?
Because my flaws do not define who I am.  They are not who I am! 

 
My character flaws certainly do surface now and then and when they do I do a much better job today at recognizing and dealing with them.  Those flaws are covered by the grace of Jesus Christ.  He doesn't judge me as others may when I have feelings of insecurity, jealousy, anger, fear or whatever lenghty flaws that are on my list.  He knew that one day I would struggle with these flaws far before I knew they would even be a part of my life. He knew those flaws would cause me to sin.  And because he died on the cross for me, I am blessed to be given the opportunity to receive his grace, love and forgiveness.

With God, there are no coincidences.  I know he allows events in our life that we can handle and events that are timed in his perfect plan for our lives. About a week and a half prior to this weekend, I had just finished Step 6 of my Life Recovery Program which is, "We became entirely ready to have God remove these defects of character."  One of the exercises we had to do in this step was to list the defects we had previously came up with in steps 4 and 5.  Next, I had to look at those defects to see what they have done for me, and against me, reflect on my list, take time to grieve, feeling the loss of both the positive and negatives of each effect. After I was done, I ripped up the list and began a new transformation with giving them to God.  I've begun this transformation by sharing with others when I felt insecure, jealous, angry or fearful.  In that, I began living a life filled with truth leaving less room for falsity to reside.

I am far from perfect and I will never achieve perfection in this lifetime.  But I can do my best to speak the truth in love; be accountable when I fall short; make a genuine effort to transform my life so that I do not repeat poor habits and behaviors which lead to sin; and make a sincere and honest apology to the people I've wronged.  If they are people who are continuously a part of my life, changes in my behavior and actions will display the sincerity and honesty in that apology.

I am flawed.  I always will be. I accept it. It does not define who I am. And I find peace in knowing that my character flaws are covered by the grace of God







2 comments:

  1. Ammmmmmen sister! Wow, well said. Can I just copy and paste? Oh wait, that is plagiarism. Well said! I am so proud of you - I love you!

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  2. Thank you Mija, Once again, such a beautiful message and reminder of how our character flaws are covered by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You are such a blessing in my life. Thank you.Mom

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