{"id":2304,"date":"2014-07-13T09:00:54","date_gmt":"2014-07-13T14:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=2304"},"modified":"2014-07-10T13:23:10","modified_gmt":"2014-07-10T18:23:10","slug":"reflection-not-perfection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=2304","title":{"rendered":"Reflection Not Perfection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/reflection.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-2307\" alt=\"reflection\" src=\"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/reflection-300x201.jpg\" width=\"178\" height=\"119\" srcset=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/reflection-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/reflection.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 178px) 100vw, 178px\" \/><\/a>Many of us think being a Christian is about striving to be perfect.\u00a0 Believe it or not, perfection is unattainable.\u00a0 If that\u2019s our goal, we will always fall short.\u00a0 God isn\u2019t looking for perfection.\u00a0 If he were, then the following people would not make it into His kingdom.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Thomas doubted.<\/li>\n<li>Rahab was a harlot<\/li>\n<li>Peter was impulsive.<\/li>\n<li>Martha worried.<\/li>\n<li>Elijah feared Jezebel.<\/li>\n<li>Moses struck the rock in anger.<\/li>\n<li>Paul killed Christians.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Yet we know from the Bible that these people were considered faithful servants of God.\u00a0 You see, God isn\u2019t looking for perfection.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s only natural to want to improve ourselves, but if we only concentrate on our short comings we miss the glimmer of the Holy Spirit dwelling within. \u00a0Some of us look into our spiritual mirrors and see distorted images of ourselves.\u00a0 This image we see is important.\u00a0 After all, we are made in God\u2019s image.\u00a0 (Genesis 1:27)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fun-House-Mirror.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-2309\" alt=\"Fun-House-Mirror\" src=\"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fun-House-Mirror-300x300.jpg\" width=\"211\" height=\"211\" srcset=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fun-House-Mirror-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fun-House-Mirror-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fun-House-Mirror.jpg 317w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px\" \/><\/a>When I was a kid occasionally we would go to an amusement park.\u00a0 Amusement parks are full of rides, junk food, and fun!\u00a0 And one of the \u201cfunnest\u201d places to go was the Fun House.\u00a0 They had these wavy mirrors that made you look fat, tall, skinny, or short.\u00a0 They distorted your image, which for a kid is pretty funny.<\/p>\n<p>However, as we get older even looking into a normal mirror can be a little disconcerting.\u00a0 What do we see?\u00a0 Wrinkles?\u00a0 Baggy eyes?\u00a0 Double chins?\u00a0 Scars?<\/p>\n<p>Did you know that when God looks at us, that\u2019s not what he sees?\u00a0 God doesn\u2019t look at an outward appearance.\u00a0 He looks at the heart.\u00a0 (Proverbs 21:2; 1 Samuel 17:31)\u00a0 God knows the worst about us but He sees our best.\u00a0 He sees a reflection of Himself \u2013 and God wants us to see what He sees.<\/p>\n<p>2 Corinthians 3:18 tells us there is a transformation taking place in us that reflects the glory of God.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><sup>\u201c<\/sup>But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>So do we fall short?\u00a0 Yes, because we aren\u2019t perfect.\u00a0 The Christian life is not about perfection; it\u2019s about reflection \u2013 reflecting the glory of God.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2-Cor.-3.18.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2311\" alt=\"2 Cor. 3.18\" src=\"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2-Cor.-3.18-300x277.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"277\" srcset=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2-Cor.-3.18-300x277.jpg 300w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2-Cor.-3.18.jpg 741w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many of us think being a Christian is about striving to be perfect.\u00a0 Believe it or not, perfection is unattainable.\u00a0 If that\u2019s our goal, we will always fall short.\u00a0 God isn\u2019t looking for perfection.\u00a0 If he were, then the following &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=2304\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}