There are times in life where our best just isn’t good enough to meet a standard. I think immediately of taking a test in school for example. You study, you rehearse the material, you complete the homework, and you feel prepared. You do the best you can to retain the information given and then you apply yourself during the test to convey the information which you were being tested on. Seems simple enough, right? Except what about when your efforts don’t turn into the results that you are hoping for. What about when your best preparation just doesn’t cut it when it comes time to take the test and you fail?
Ouch.
I’ve been there.
It hurts.
Like, really, really hurts.
I recently had a situation where I prepared for something that required me to thoughtfully compile my concerns, state my opinion, and lay out the facts. I had everything written down in a manner which I thought explained the situation at hand well and covered my concerns to the best of my ability and in a full picture way without giving too much detail, or too little. In my mind I was prepared and ready. I had peace about my ability to carry out what was required and I knew that God would go before me. I did the best I could.
Well, I don’t think my best wasn’t good enough. And that’s ok.
What matters is that I tried. God saw everything and He knew the circumstances I was up against. I was reminded of this passage in scripture from Luke about how he protects us and even delivers us from our enemies. I don’t know if you have ever truly experienced what it is like to have a real enemy in your life, but I can tell you it is terrifying. To think that someone would dedicate even a portion of their time here on earth to bully another human being is beyond my understanding, but it really happens.
When I am feeling overwhelmed by my enemies I take heart in this passage:
Luke 1:71-75 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
God will enable us to serve him WITHOUT FEAR in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Even though you may have enemies. Even though people hate you. Even though there are some people out there who want nothing but to harass, intimidate, pressure, belittle, and even harm or destroy you, know that God is bigger than all of that. Know that He will enable you to serve him all of your days. More often than not I need to speak this very thing into my own life. Especially right now.
In all reality sometimes our best is going to fall short, and truthfully it just won’t be good enough to meet the standards. This is just the hard reality that we face sometimes. Thankfully we serve a God who is just and will protect us no matter what. Thankfully our salvation is never something that we can earn so we are not expected to be good enough. Thankfully God loves us knowing that our best will always fall short of His glory. How amazing is that? He loves us even though we will always be flawed this side of Heaven. He sees us though the blood of Christ. He sees us as we are meant to be, perfected and without flaw, without sin, without stain because of what Jesus did for us. Sometimes the greater picture just blows my mind.
So let’s think about this for a moment. We are flawed, but God enables us to serve him in holiness and righteousness. Our job is to serve God to the best of our ability knowing He will provide all we need to do this well. He will enable us to do this without fear of the opposition. So let’s get to work… because we know, faith without action is useless (see James 2:14-26); and remember, it’s about progress not perfection.
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