I love it when our boys teach us incredibly deep truths in the simplest of statements! Last night, it was Austin.
Teeth had been brushed, boys were in their PJ’s, and we were about to tuck them into bed, read their Bibles to them, and pray before they went to sleep. I told Austin that he was awesome. He encouraged me back by telling me that I was also awesome. It made me think of a famous brand breakfast sandwich commercial in which the main character portraying the sun says, “You’re all awesome! Now let’s orbit,” and so I said that line. Austin replies lightning-quick, “We’re all awesome, but we’re not always perfect.”
Mic drop moment for the six year-old. He could have been retweeted hundreds of times if he had been speaking at a conference and said that. Come to think of it… nah, I won’t steal his line for that… maybe just for this blog. We told him that he was right in what he said, and we wrapped up the night in usual fashion.
I couldn’t get away from that truth, though. “We are all awesome, but we aren’t always perfect.” The Apostle Paul said it this way in Romans 3:23, “… we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” But then over in chapter 8 of the same book, he reminds us that nothing can separate us from God’s love.
It’s staggering to me to try to grasp that God always sees me as awesome because I’ve accepted the grace and forgiveness Jesus provided for me at the cross. Even though God and I both know I’m not perfect all the time, He still sees me as awesome.
And we all have things that make us awesome, even though we don’t get everything right every moment of every day. Blew that presentation? Still awesome. Ruined that friendship? Still awesome. Made a poor decision. Let God think about it… yep, still awesome! Caused an accident? Spoke too harshly to the kids? Burned the beans? Caught the mower on fire? Forgot your parents’ anniversary? Still awesome.
So, does this mean that we can just be reckless and do whatever we want with no consequences? No! It simply means that God chooses to love us and see us in the light of Jesus… as the finished products we will one day be… awesome… even though each day finds us less than perfect.
So tomorrow, get up, look in the mirror, and remind yourself that, if you belong to God, then He sees you as awesome. Then go out there and do the best you can do to live right and honor Him. And at the end of the day, when you stand in front of that mirror one more time before you hit the hay… and you reflect on all the times you didn’t hit the mark… remind yourself again that He still sees you as awesome, even if you aren’t perfect… because one day, you’ll be standing before Him instead of that mirror of yours… and He will lift your chin, look you in the eye, and say, “See? I told you that you are awesome!”
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