Progress Over Perfection

The Lord is not as concerned with our perfection, as much as he is concerned with our progress.

By Rebekah Page

My 5 year old son asks me today, “How do people become blind?” I begin to tell him that some people are born blind. He asks, “Why?” I say, “God sometimes will create hardships to draw people to him.”  But of course, I am not convinced that that was the “right” answer.  It is however, something I am learning and want him to know before he’s in his 30’s.  

You see, I see my daily struggles has hardships.  My struggle with _______. My predisposition to _______. My emotional reactions to _______.  These struggles consistently make me turn to Jesus, his word, his spirit, his hope.  Left to myself, I STRUGGLE.  Relying on him, I have PEACE.  His spirit trumps any emotion, any pain, any battle. As I hang onto my sinful nature, it get’s comfortable and takes up residence in a space normally occupied by the “spirit”.  The last two weeks have been particularly eye opening to me because I was being “dragged away by [my] own evil desires and enticed by my flesh.  I was cramming  two or three days of my beloved #first5 app into the evenings or reading and praying haphazardly. “ I am not perfect, I am not effective, and my prayer life is in shambles”, I thought.  Although I was “into” reading Paul’s story in Acts and all he went through, I missed some of his story.  More importantly, I missed some of God’s story and what he had available to me these last two weeks.  A redo of my past, is not an option, but I can recalibrate my today and say,  “My mornings belong to the Lord, they are sanctified and holy to the Lord.” And I pray the same for you. With the Lord's help, we will never miss a day.  But when we do, we’ll keep persevering in the knowledge of the truth, using resources like the #first5 app to progress in our knowledge and love for the scriptures.  I know more about the Bible, the Lord and his story than I ever did before I started the  #first5 app.  Now that’s progress. Not perfection. But progress!

So as I was feeling sad for not being 100% consistent these last two weeks, Dr. Vernon McGee reminded me and I’ll paraphrase, [The Lord is not as concerned with our perfection, as much as he is concerned with our progress. ]

The #first5 app is a very practical way to get your WORD ON.  And, we just started learning about Numbers this week. What a great time to start!

Quote from the first 5 app today was, “God puts every detail in place to move His people forward in faith.” - #KristaWilliams @kristawilliams_

More Information on Dr. Vernon McGee:

Dr. Vernon McGee’s ministry is Thru the Bible and their Bible studies are available in 80+ languages on their TTB app and their website is here.

While teaching in the book of Hebrews, Dr. McGee said, “The only way you and I are going to stay close to Jesus is to stay close to His Word . . . that’s why we’re spending time in the Word of God, and the reason I read letters from people on the air.  They say ‘for the first time I found out about the joy of the Lord.’ The Christian life has been a yoke on them; all they knew was duty and discipline.  But when you spend time studying the Bible, you can’t help but be drawn to the Person of Jesus. That’s what you should listen for in the letters we read—listen for the joy of walking close to Jesus.”