You Are Perfectly Imperfect

Flaws.  Imperfections.  Weaknesses.  Insecurities.

I think all of us are well aware that there are parts of ourselves that do not measure up to the “ideal” people that culture sets in front of us through media.  There is at least one part of our body that we simply do not like.  We don’t have a talent that we wish we had.  We struggle with our people skills.  Our imperfections seem to lurk in every corner of who we are, reminding us that we are not as good as someone else in some thing.  That one blemish in our life can consume our hearts and minds, and in that process we begin to feel insecure, inadequate and unlovable.

Yet, what if those flaws were meant to be there?  What if every single other person on the face of the earth is struggling with some shortcoming?  The truth is that we all have imperfections in our life and as much as we hate them, they were meant to be there.  As this video below illustrates, they are a part of who we are.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRlpIkH3b5I&w=560&h=315]

As a student pastor, my heart breaks when I watch this video.  I know so many of the girls in America struggle with issues of body image.  They’re constantly saddled with the burden of feeling like they do not look perfect.  But this isn’t just an issue in the lives of teenage girls.  As we see in the video, adults are prone to the same feelings of inadequacy.  These shortcomings extend beyond our physical looks and creep into our talents, personalities and people skills.  Our flaws are everywhere….and that’s okay.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well. ~ Psalm 139:14

The psalmist here is praising God because God has carefully made Him into the man that he is.  For Christians we would all admit we are carefully crafted by God and in being fearfully and wonderfully made by God, we have to acknowledge that He made us with those apparent flaws.  As God sees you and your flaws He calls you wonderful…beloved….son….daughter.  As God sees your imperfections He still loves you.

Our insecurities were never meant to define us, they we meant to refine us.  As Paul so gracefully says in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”  God’s power shines in our weaknesses and imperfections.  Our security and strength should never come from what we look like or what we do.  Our absolute security and strength will only come through who He is.  Our flaws reveal that our hope is in Someone greater and He loves us – flaws and all.

Before you begin to wish away your imperfections, realize you might be wishing away a part of who you are. Be content in who you are: short, tall, skinny, fat or even armless.  Don’t try to find value in what people say about you, find your identity in what God already said about you.  Don’t pick at the imperfections in your life, because you are already a masterpiece from the hand of the Master Craftsman.  Our flaws are OK because God’s grace is greater than that.

So when insecurity begins to rage in your life remember that you are perfect….perfectly imperfect.