I want to talk about What The Bible has to say about Imperfection. There is a song I would like to start out with called Imperfections by Matthew West. The lyrics of the song say: All of my life I've been making a list, Of all the things about me I'd change if I could And the longer I live, the more I'm convinced, The bad and the ugly will outweigh the good, I beat myself up, I tear myself down, And it's never been harder to understand how, You perfectly love me and all my imperfections, Still can't believe that it's true, How You perfectly love me and all my imperfections And all my imperfections You'll use, I'm clumsy and foolish, I'm reckless and clueless, If there's a wrong turn, I'll take it, But You keep on raising me up from my ruins, And tell me I'm something worth saving, The story of me is a story of grace, Every chapter's a new list of all of the ways, You perfectly love me and all my imperfections, Still can't believe that it's true, How You perfectly love me and all my imperfections, And all my imperfections you'll use, All of my life I thought You had a list, Of all the things about me You'd change if You could. But here in Your presence my heart is convinced, There's no part of me that you can't use for good, Lord, You perfectly love me and all my imperfections, I'm finally believing it's true, How You perfectly love me and all my imperfections, And all my imperfections You'll use, All my imperfections You'll use, So, I give all my imperfections to You. A second song I would like to share is one I've shared before in a study and it's by an artist named Amy Picard and it's her song called Perfectly Imperfect and for me when I think of this song, I take it in a way, that all of us are perfectly imperfect children of God trying to lead by the example God has given us to minister to others who are not only feeling lost but how God will take the perfectly imperfect parts of our testimonies to turn them into beautifully broken pieces that are a piece of the puzzle that is being crafted by God with knowing that He is still perfecting the imperfections of that Scrapbook of our testimonies to live by Faith alone, and to not walk by sight. I want us to look at some scripture now. The scriptures we are going to look at tonight are Ephesians 2 verse 8-9, John 10 verse 10, James 3 verse 2, Philippians 4 verse 13, Philippians 3 verse 12, Psalm 120 verse 1, James 1 verse 4, 2 Corinthians 2 verse 9, Luke 1 verse 37, and the last two we will look at are Colossians 3 verse 14 and 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14. We see in these scriptures that God takes our imperfection and turns it around to something that is Beautifully Broken in the eyes of Him. I would like to share Plumb's song Beautifully Broken with you and the lyrics say: Every tear, every doubt, Every time you've fallen down, When you're hurting, feeling ashamed, When you're numbing off your pain, When you've lost your way, And feel so far away, You're not, You're beautifully broken, And you can be whole again, Even a million scars doesn't change whose you are, You're worthy, Beautifully broken, Every fear of being loved, For who you are no matter what, When you're stumbling,, And you're haunted by regret, And the darkness closes in, Just listen, You're beautifully broken, And You can be whole again, Even a million scars doesn't change whose you are, You're worthy, Beautifully broken, You're beautifully broken (beautifully broken), You're beautifully broken, Oh, the God who made the stars, Is the God that made your heart, And He's holding you right now, He can heal the broken parts, And make beauty from the scars, the scars, Beautiful scars! There are a few things that I would like to close on tonight. The first thing that I would like to close on is this. “Remember God is not surprised by your inabilities, your imperfections, or your faults. He has always known everything about you that you are just now finding out, and he chose you on purpose for himself.” The second thing I would like to share is a song called How He Loves and some of the lyrics I want to share say this: … He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy, When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, And I realize just how beautiful You are, And how great Your affections are for me … And oh, how He loves us, oh, Oh, how He loves us, How He loves us all … He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy, When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, And I realise just how beautiful You are, And how great Your affections are for me … And oh, how He loves us, oh, Oh, how He loves us, How He loves us all. The third thing I would like to share is another quote. The quote says this: It is in your most broken places you are most often used by God. The next thing that I would like to share is DC Talk's song called What If I Stumble and the lyrics say: What if I stumble? What if I fall? This one for the people? Is this one for the Lord? Or do I simply serenade for things I must afford? You can jumble them together, My conflict still remains, Holiness is callin', In the midst of courting fame, 'Cause I see the trust in their eyes, Though the sky is fallin', They need Your love in their lives, Compromise is callin', What if I stumble?, What if I fall? What if I lose my step and I make fools of us all? Will the love continue, When my walk becomes a crawl? What if I stumble? And what if I fall? What if I stumble? What if I fall? (Fall, fall) (O Lord) You never turn in the heat of it all What if I stumble? What if I fall? (Fall, fall, fall, fall, fall) Father, please forgive me, For I cannot compose, The fear that lives within me Or the rate at which it grows (rate at which it grows) If struggle has a purpose On the narrow road You carved, Why do I dread my trespasses will leave a deadly scar?, Did they see the fear in my eyes? Are they so revealin'? This time I cannot disguise, All the doubt I'm feelin', What if I stumble? What if I fall? What if I lose my step and I make fools of us all?, Will the love continue When my walk becomes a crawl? What if I stumble? And what if I fall? What if I stumble?, Everyone's got to crawl when you know that you're up against the wall, It's about to fall, Everyone's got to crawl when you know that... Yeah, Everyone's got to crawl when you know that you're up against the wall, It's about to fall, Everyone's got to crawl when you know that..., Yeah, I hear You whispering my name, You said, "My love for you will never change" (never change). Another quote that I would like to share says this: “God uses broken things beautifully; Broken clouds pour rain, Broken soil sets as fields, Broken crop yield seeds, Broken seeds give life to new plants. So when you feel you are broken, be rest assured that God is planning to utilize you for something great.” We see here in all of this that God is using us to the best of our abilities to utilize us in what we can do and to use us in how He sees us as Beloved children of God who are completely loved and known by Him. Here is the last quote I want to leave all of you with tonight. The quote says this: “There is nothing more liberating than being fully known and still loved.” I wanted to end on that quote tonight because I want us to be reminded in how God sees beyond the imperfection or imperfections of our past, to help us be reminded in how we can be loved, are loved, and how we can take the good parts of our testimony to share with others, because when we think about it and truly think about it, we know we were made in the Image Of God, that our testimonies are from over, that it is the beginning of something beautiful because just like in Jeremiah 29 verse 11, God reminds us that the plans He has for us are to prosper us, not to harm us, but to give us a hope and a future. We need to know that what God has in store is what He will keep revealing to us in His Timing because our ways are not perfect, but God's ways are perfect. So tonight as we leave, let us remember that we are truly Loved. The song I started out with by Matthew West is a nice song, and it reminds me a lot of the time that beyond my imperfection or imperfections, God's got me in His hands and He will always love me without end because as a Beloved child of God, He sees beyond our imperfection and imperfections to give us a beautifully broken picture of how we are made whole in the Image of Him. Let this be a reminder for all of us this week that we don't have to be perfect in anything we do because our ways are not perfect, because God's ways are. Just a like Land of Color song says: We don't have to win, we don't have to lie, we don't have to always get it right, we will find the strength when we let go to be your warriors. As God's Warriors, we may feel like we are broken and that we have to be perfect, but God reminds us that we don't have to be because like another song says: We Are Perfectly Imperfect.
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