Do Not Be Afraid

I’m fifty-four years old, and one thing I wish I’d known about God when I was a teenager is that He doesn’t expect us to be perfect.

As a teen, I attempted over and over again to do what God said in the Bible. But no matter how hard I tried, I kept failing. I knew God loved me, but I felt so bad when I sinned or made mistakes. I felt like I was disappointing Him. When I read Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,†I didn’t see how I could live up to that seemingly impossible standard. The truth was, I couldn’t. And God didn’t expect me to. Looking at the context of this verse reveals that Jesus was teaching a large crowd, and He was building a case that no one could live without doing wrong. No one, except Him.

After the very first humans went their own way instead of trusting God, humanity was separated from God and doomed to death. Since then, no matter what we do, people can’t live according to God’s good ways on our own. But God didn’t abandon us. Instead, He provided a way for us to be forgiven and made perfect—complete, mature, whole. Jesus, the Son of God, came to give His life for ours. Jesus lived in total obedience to God; He let Himself be killed, then came back to life to make it possible for us to be perfectly at peace with God. We can’t live sinless lives in our own strength, but we can be made perfect if we’ve put our trust in Jesus.

In my own life, I still make plenty of mistakes, and I fall into sin way too often, but I enjoy a relationship with God that is so much more peaceful now. The Holy Spirit keeps teaching me how to live more and more like Christ, but I know I don’t have to be perfect. Jesus has already made me perfect in God’s sight and forgiven my sins.

I wish I’d understood that better when I was a teenager, but I’m glad God showed me this truth now. Young or old, we can all experience peace now as we rest in what Jesus has done for us and accept that we don’t have to be perfect. • Robyn Mulder

• Do you sometimes feel pressure to be perfect?

• How might it be freeing to know that Jesus is the only One who can be perfect?

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:1-2 (CSB)

Read Verses:

Psalms 46:1-11; 27:1-14; Matthew 8:23-27