Nobody's Got It All Together
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”Romans 6:23
How does she have it together all the time? He seems to do everything with such ease. I wish I could be more like her…
If you’re human like me, one of these thoughts has probably crossed your mind at some point. Or maybe you’ve been on the other side of the fence. You become such a perfectionist about things that people look at your life and think, how do you do it? It’s like you’re perfect! Hearing these comments, they fuel you, driving you to strive on your own for something that is unattainable in this lifetime: perfection. Good luck with that.
The truth is, as singer Jill Phillips so truthfully says, “Nobody’s got it all together.” But we either convince ourselves that “that girl” has found the secret and she truly does have it all together, or we fool ourselves into thinking we can look like we have it all together. All it takes is one look at our own self though, seeing the consistent mess-ups, mistakes, and wrong decisions we’ve made, to know how far from perfect we really are. Since the Bible says in Romans 3 that, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” then that means everyone is in the same boat.
When God sent His son Jesus to die on the cross to save us from the wages of our sins, for “all who have fallen short,” He gave us the ultimate gift of grace. We deserve death, but God gives us what we don’t deserve when we become a follower of Him; He gives us eternal life (Romans 6:23). So we have a decision to make. We can either neglect the fact that God shows us continuous grace and stand alone in our mistakes/false state of perfection, or we can share in this grace with one another.
I vote the second option! Being vulnerable can be scary and daunting, but what comes from it trumps the initial drudgery of it. When we are vulnerable, we open up the possibility/capacity to relate to each other. We can know that we aren’t alone. We can encourage one another. When we are vulnerable, we are being authentic, and there is freedom found in authenticity.
So, as Jill would say, “Don’t whitewash the truth about yourself, ‘cause nobody’s got it all together.” If you think you do or anyone else does, you’re fooling yourself! Wouldn’t it be better to live and walk through life together on the same side of the fence rather than deceiving ourselves that we have to go at this life alone?