Dual Citizenship

One thing I wish I knew earlier in my teen years is that what I do will never be perfect. I am imperfect and sinful, and I need Jesus in my life!

A few years ago, I was stuck in a cycle, something I like to call the “perfection cycle.†Everything I did, I’d strive to do perfectly. I made sure nothing was out of place. The worst parts about this cycle are (1) you base your worth on how well you performed a certain task and (2) this promotes “me†thinking and leads to prideful thoughts.

Here’s an example: One of my favorite classes in middle school was geography class. I would strive to do my best in that class—and there’s nothing wrong with that when you’re working for God (Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human mastersâ€). However, over time, I let that class become my worth. Whenever I did well on a test, I would feel proud and boast about how well I did to my friends and family. But, when I didn’t do as well, I would feel really upset and jealous of someone who did better than I did.

But God is so good, and He revealed the underlying lie I was believing: I was trying to be perfect in order to feel loved and accepted. But that’s just not possible! Here’s the thing: We are a broken and sinful people, ever since the Fall in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). There’s nothing we can do to get ourselves out of the pit of sin we’re in! Thankfully, God sent His Son, Jesus, who lived a perfect, sinless life and died on a cross in order to take God’s just wrath for our sin. Then God raised Jesus from the dead, defeating sin and death for good! This action bridged the gap between us and God, and when we put our trust in Jesus, we’re saved from sin and united to God through the Holy Spirit. We also find complete love and acceptance in Christ, which is what we crave because it’s what God created us for! Isn’t that better than trying to become a perfect human? • Carissa Vruggink

• Have there been times in your life you’ve tried to be perfect in order to be loved and accepted?

• Jesus freely chose to die on the cross to free us from our cycle of sin and death, which we could never do! For more about Jesus’s free gift of salvation, check out our “Know Jesus” page.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

Read Verses:

John.17|Gen.12.1-Gen.12.9|Phil.3.20