“Know therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.”  Deuteronomy 9:6

I’ve come to realize I regularly have this underlying fear: someone is going to find out I’m not perfect!  I know this sounds foolish, but it is what it is!

This wreaks havoc on my life and is driven by an inner voice that is unrelenting. It sounds like this: “You should have known that you should do that.  Why didn’t you do that?  How old are you and you still don’t have this down?”  Couple that with my pathological concern that someone out there is noticing and directly affected by my failure to be perfect and spends their time being angry with me because I am the center of their universe and you understand why this is far from helpful or even sane! 

So the secret is out.  I’m not perfect and borderline out of my mind!

That is why the above verse is such good news to me.  God is intent on me knowing that nothing good in my life is there because of my own effort, goodness, or perfection.  In fact, God knows exactly who I am: stubborn and unrighteous.  There is nothing hidden to Him and He is more than willing to tell me exactly who I am.  But He is just as willing to give me good that I don’t deserve. 

The only way I can get rid of this neurotic concern over myself and peoples’ view of me is to receive God’s view of me and rejoice in His determination of not only who I am, but what He wants to do for me despite of it!

This is all true because Jesus Christ has made it possible.  He lived the perfect sinless life, but willingly died in the place of a stubborn sinner.  He walked in perfect righteousness toward God and others, but died in the place of one who is unrighteous.  He took everything that we don’t want and gave us everything good that we don’t deserve.  Eternal life is open to us in the life to come, and assurance of God’s good pleasure gives us confidence in the world today!  Praise be to God that He calls it like it is and is filled with grace and mercy!

So to the inner voices that are trying to pull us down: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)  Thanks be to God!