Imperfect

"God demonstrates his own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  -Romans 5:8

This gnarly trunk may look ugly to some, but furniture makers see it as a thing of beauty because the burl can be sliced into veneers that give the piece a beautiful grain.  In today's Our Daily Bread Albert Lee writes about "wakeari," a Japanese term that means "there is a reason."  It is used to denote why items are marked down in price because of their imperfections.  Lee writes, "Jesus loves all people--including the wakeari who society casts aside.  When a woman who had lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at a Pharisee's house, she went there and knelt behind Jesus at His feet, weeping (Luke 7:37-38).  The Pharisee labeled her "a sinner" (v. 39),  but Jesus accepted her.  He spoke gently to her, assuring her that her sins were forgiven (v. 28)."  Then in verses  44-47 he tells the Pharisee that the woman washed his feet with her tears and anointed his head with oil and his feet with perfume, while the Pharisee had not even offered him the customary water to wash his feet.  Jesus said, "Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--as her great love has shown.  But whoever has been forgiven little loves little."

When we realize how great a sinner we are and our inability to keep God's laws, we, too, will weep with joy to be in Jesus's presence, knowing we are forgiven.  Our imperfections will become our offering and made into a thing of beauty.

I am grateful that my imperfections are made perfect in God's eyes through His Son.