An Open Letter To My Generation

Dear Peers,

Please don’t swallow the lies the world dishes out –  in particular, the lies about self love and performance based acceptance. The idea that we need to love ourselves and embrace our flaws is ridiculous, but at the same time hiding our weaknesses behind a false persona is wrong too.

So how are we to view ourselves?

Mankind was created in God’s perfect image, but that image was marred when Adam sinned and it will not be recovered until we get to Heaven. Psalm 51:5 says, “Surely, I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” There are two opposing realities that are manifest in us as Christians, and they both need to be acknowledged properly. We were saved for Heaven from Hell by the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf, but we constantly need his grace because of the sin nature in us that won’t die until we get to Heaven. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 Paul says, “But He [God] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” We can boast about our weaknesses because of what Christ does in them; but He can’t do anything with them if we hold them up as part of our identity, or if we just try to hide them. He can’t use what we don’t give to Him. Embracing our weaknesses and making them a part of our identity will not work, because we can’t overcome them in our own strength – then what use is it to claim my weaknesses as our own? Trying to hide our weaknesses will not work either, because someday everything will come to light. Learning to be real and honest about our flaws isn’t easy; but we should only be boasting about them when God’s grace works above and beyond our limitations.

The picture I have in my head is one of myself gathering my broken pieces and handing them to God, Who then hands them back and tells me to use them. When I do, He shines through them like light through a crack in a wall, creating a something beautiful that is visible for all to see in this dark world. He does something better than fix my weaknesses: He makes His perfect strength manifest in the places I’ve fallen apart.

It really isn’t about us at all, and that takes the pressure off us to perform and it should place our eyes on Christ.

With Love,

Rebecca