"I don't know any perfect people, just really flawed people who are still worth loving"
John Green said this, but I think that this is how Jesus views us. It has been extremely heavy on my heart lately realizing that there are people out there who believe that they have to be perfect to come before God and worship.
I've heard way too many times: "Oh, I'd burn up if I stepped into a church". I'm not quite sure where they get that idea from, but I cannot name a single time that someone stepped inside a church and immediately caught on fire. Please comment on this post if that's happened before and correct me!
I have been realizing that personally, I'm finding it so hard to share the gospel with people simply because I feel as if talking is not my strong suit. Public speaking is something that takes a lot of work, and I'm not quite there. Being given this platform to write on, I'm blessed to be able to share that JESUS LOVES YOU. HE KNOWS YOU ARE FLAWED AND STILL DIED ON THE CROSS FOR YOU. I cannot fathom why such a perfect person would come down to die for us, but Romans 5: 6-8 says
"You see, just at the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
It's overwhelming when you realize that someone loves you so much that they're willing to die for you- but nowhere in there does it say that Christ died for *only* the perfect people. Romans 5 says that Christ died for the ungodly. Which is everyone!
And because of this, 2 Corinthians 5 verses 14-17 say that:
"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old is gone, the new is here!"
I believe that because Jesus died for us, and because of that, we are new. You will not burn up. Nothing that you have done will make Jesus love you any less. He meets us where we are and takes us somewhere even better. Jesus died for you. Jesus loves you. And nothing you do will ever change that.