Galatians 5:1:
“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”
Encouraging women to become faithful followers of Jesus Christ has been the heart of my mission for many years. My first ministry opportunity came thirty-eight years ago when I served as women’s ministry director of our church. I reported directly to the executive pastor who, along with his wife, was a good friend. On one occasion after a planning session, he said this, “Organization promotes spontaneity.” He recognized something that I needed to deal with—I was a super-organized, rigid perfectionist! Being super-organized was fine, and serves me well to this day, but being rigid and a perfectionist did not. It left little room for the Lord to use me in other ways and little room to just enjoy life! Conviction pricked my heart and I repented of the perfectionism. But, there was something else I needed to deal with which was at the root of the perfectionism—an identity problem.
As mentioned in “A Personal Mission Statement, Part One,” the first step in defining our personal mission statement is in identifying who we are in Christ and having a secure relationship with Him. My salvation through Christ was secure but I didn’t have a sense of security in who I was and how God viewed me. Being trapped in performance-based acceptance which drove the perfectionism caused me to always strive to gain the approval of others, and most especially the Lord. After my prayer of repentance, I began to understand what our scripture for today speaks of, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free.” He set me free to focus on a clear vision for my mission—ministering to women—not based on my own strength or need for approval, but to be guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit. The transformation didn’t take place overnight but came from extensive study and prayer as I asked the Lord to identify and clarify that mission.
When we ask Jesus to come live in and through us, He sees us as His beloved child and, despite all the messiness, failures and sins in our lives, He loves us! On a scale of 1-10, we are a 10 in His eyes! There is not one thing we can do that will make Him love us any less. Not one thing. Let that sink in for a minute. Because of what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross, we can experience freedom, a freedom that sets us free from the old “sinner” identity we tend to carry around. We can choose to accept what He did on the cross for us, to be “in Christ” and live in true freedom with a desire to be like Christ. *This is how Jesus views us:
• We are justified and redeemed
• We are holy, set apart
• We are a new creation
• We are liberated
• We are blessed with every spiritual blessing
• We are forgiven
• We have Life!
Through faith in Jesus Christ, all these things are true for you and me! We are forever His and our identity in Christ is secure. I trust this has helped you identify WHO you are in Christ and encouraged you in your relationship with Him. The next step is to determine WHAT He has called you to do.
Heavenly Father, sometimes it is hard to comprehend how much You love us and that Your love is unconditional. Help us, O God, to live in the freedom that was bought and paid for by your Son. We ask You now to begin to give us a clear vision for how we can serve You better, for Your purposes and Your glory. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
~ painting by Mirela
*portions taken from “Find Freedom” by Lifetime.org
Hi Marsha, I am so enjoying your daily devotions. A question crossed my mind about Day 294 particularly, because I could relate to this very much. Where is the line between super organized and perfectionism? This would be very helpful to me. Thank you.
Sharon Baber
Hi, Sharon ~ great question! Being super-organized can be a very positive trait, one that serves us very well when used for God’s purposes for our lives, for our family, and others. We tend to be go-getters, able to set and keep priorities, stay focused on tasks, and see things through to completion, and get a lot of things accomplished. It’s when we become a slave to having things perfect that that we fall into a trap in order to gain approval from others or from God. In other words, it becomes performance-based acceptance. God, through His Holy Spirit, has gifted us and equipped us to do certain things, and we should do them to the best of our ability, but not to the extent that we insist on things being perfect or that our standard has to be another’s standard. Thank you for asking. Am delighted and honored that you are reading these devotions. ~ M.