The Beauty of Imperfections By: Liz Munoz 

John Wooden once wrote: “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
Throughout the years of my teenage life I had been struggling to stay consistent in my walk with God. Just as many Christians today, I had a tendency to give up every time I made a sinful mistake. I kept telling myself I was never going to get where God wanted me to be, and I was certainly going nowhere fast. I dwelled so strongly on my imperfections that it blocked me from drawing closer to the heart of God. When I messed up I would often feel so guilty and completely ignore God because of how I acted. I thought, Well, I can’t pray or worship God today, I acted terrible. I’ll wait a few days until God finally decides to cool off. That was definitely a lie from Satan! One tool from the enemy that seems to beat down so many Christians is the spirit of condemnation. Condemnation was a tool that surely tripped me up and caused me to stumble many times. Deep down inside I would beat myself up and give into these lies.
I remember a friend telling me once, “When you are beating yourself down, you are beating down Jesus.” This is so very true. In Romans 8:1, the apostle Paul tells us, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. I am in Christ Jesus. I do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.” We are in Christ Jesus! He is inside of us and when we are sitting there beating ourselves down, constantly telling ourselves we are never going to make it, we are truly beating down Jesus Christ.
It was my senior year of High School when God revealed something so beautiful to me. All throughout my high school career I had been a dedicated runner in both Cross-Country and Track. I have learned so much through the running experience. But it wasn’t the physical part of running I learned from, it was the spiritual part of running. You may say “how can running be spiritual?” Well let me just say, my running experience was very spiritual. God showed me so much and ministered to me in so many different ways. In the Bible there are different verses that talk about “running the race.” Running the race of a lifetime! The race of faith! Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” I believe God took me through this whole running experience for a reason; so I can relate my physical race with my spiritual race. In so many ways, it is the same exact thing.
As I would run my races, I would focus on what I couldn’t accomplish rather then what I could accomplish. This kept me from becoming the runner I was capable of being. In my senior year of High School after I had finished the very last race I could ever run, I heard God’s voice. He told me that cross-country and track wasn’t about being the best, it was about doing YOUR best. In that moment when I heard God’s voice, I then knew I had been a success over the years of running. Though I wasn’t the best like I wanted to be, I did the best that I could. No matter how painful it was, how big those hills (that seemed like mountains) were, no matter what the weather was or any other imperfections that had surrounded me, I had finished those races!
When you begin to realize that you will never be perfect, that is when you will succeed and start to become that person God has called you to be. Yes, there still are going to be times where you are going to fall and want to give up. Still even today, there are times where I don’t feel like talking to God because I’ve messed up. But now each time I make a mistake, I am two steps ahead from where I was before and I find myself drawing closer to God more than ever before. 2 Timothy 4:7 says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” I don’t know about you, but when I cross that finish line someday, I want to be able to say that before the Father. Where ever you are at in your race, don’t look anywhere but straight ahead and keep your eyes on Jesus. You see, the beauty of imperfections is that God loves us no matter what we do. Read John 3:16 and that’s certainly enough to know that our Father truly loves us. Our sins have already been paid for. And the beauty of it is that the Father only wants our hearts. He is not looking at what we do, but at who we are in Him. Don’t keep beating yourself down if you make a mistake. As long as you have it set in your heart to have a burning desire to follow Christ, God will give you the strength and power you need to get to Him. A scripture to keep in mind is Proverbs 8:17. It tells us, “God loves those who love Him, and those who seek Him early and diligently shall find Him.” Amen!
Follow Christ and fight to become that person you are destined to become, no matter how hard it may be. Run that race of faith! And when you fall, just remember that your gracious loving God will always be there to come to your rescue. As Romans 8:37 says, “I am more than a conqueror through Christ who loves me.” Don’t strive to be the best. Strive to do YOUR very best, and God will do the rest!