Falling Short, Not Falling Out

I'm not the person I want to be. I suppose all of us could say that. We have weaknesses. We have faults. We sin. In so many ways we have failed to be the person we committed to be when we said yes to Jesus.

Acknowledging that can be deflating, if not depressing, but recently I have found some hope in my shortcomings.

I am preaching through a short section in the apostle Paul's letter to a church he helped establish, the church in Philippi. In the middle of that letter he takes a break from teaching and gets personal, and oddly enough he reveals he has come to the same conclusion I have. He says it plainly — I have not arrived at my goal!

If anyone could have said he had arrived, I would think it would be Paul. His resume is impressive, to say the least — church planter, apostle, author of more than half the New Testament books. Yet as accomplished as he was, he too can say, "I'm not who I want to be."

I have come to the conclusion that it's okay not to be perfect. I'm not. You're not. And Paul wasn't. So let's not pretend we are. Let's all take a deep breath and release this burden we carry. It's all right to be imperfect.

That is a refreshing place to be, but it comes with its own set of dangers. While this admission is refreshing, it cannot be an excuse to stop trying. While Paul admits it's okay not to be perfect, he would just as firmly say it is not fine to be aimless. In fact, it's impossible to say you haven't arrived unless you know where you’re headed.

Falling short is no excuse for falling out. We must have a goal.

Do you have a goal? Are you working toward something even though you may never fully attain it in the here and now?

Without a goal we drift aimlessly. With a goal we have direction and purpose. Without a goal we have no standard to measure ourselves by. With a goal we can track progress.

Paul admitted he wasn't perfect, but he also admitted he had a goal. And what was that goal?

He spells it out in this same letter, and the goal is both simple and staggering — he wants to know Christ. As he puts it elsewhere in that same letter, he wants to have the mind of Christ. He wants to see the world like Jesus saw it. He wants to see people like Jesus saw them. He wants to endure hardship like Jesus did. He wants to know him and to be like him.

He had other goals in life before he was captured by Jesus, but after careful analysis he discovered every other goal was garbage. Everything else was worthless. Rubbish. Trash.

So the question is not only do you have a goal, but is it a goal worth pursuing?

There are a few tragedies in life: having no goal at all, quitting the moment you stumble, and finally realizing your goal was never worth the pursuit. Paul avoided all three. He had a goal. He found grace when he fell short of it. And he kept pressing toward something worth reaching for.

May we do the same.

 

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