It breaks my heart to see the ones I love hurting and confused. It hurts even more so to know that there is nothing that I can do to help them when they are feeling this way. When my friends tell me their struggles or I find out from others that they are suffering, every ounce of my being wants to help them cope and feel uplifted. But, I am not capable of this. Sometimes I think to myself: "I would take that pain from him or her if that's what it took to make them happier and relieved."
John 15:13"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
Even though this thought passes through my head every once in a while, I realize that it seems pretty arrogant. Would I REALLY take that pain away if I knew the cost of it? Would I REALLY risk my life to save someone else? It sounds shallow, but in the long scheme of things, probably not. I'm not Jesus. I wasn't sent down by God die a slow and painful death for all of humanity, whether those people loved me or not. I could never experience that kind of pain, or have a love that great for others around me.
With this in mind, I truly do love those people who are suffering. Jesus has allowed me to do that, because he IS the truth.. ("If you don't know truth, then you don't know love.") So many times my friends and I beat ourselves up over making mistakes and giving in to the things of the world. None of us are perfect. We can never live a life free of sin and imperfections. It's just how it works. We pretty much lost those privileges when Eve bit the apple.
To beat ourselves up for days and weeks and years about the mistakes we make in life is simply useless. Not even as Christians will we be perfect every single second of the day and night. But, that in mind, being human isn't a "free pass" for sinning and not holding yourself accountable for errors that you make. If you find yourself whining because you screwed up or something blew up in your face, stop. Jesus paid too large of a price for you to cry and whine every time you mess up. It was the ULTIMATE price so that you could be renewed and cleansed everytime you admit to your sins and ask forgivness. Don't make it harder than it needs to be. God is going to love you regardless of your flaws and mistakes. That is why he created you. When a true artist knows he has created his best work and the critics do not receive it, does he throw the work away? No, he puts it up for all to see when they walk into his house, because he is proud of it no matter what others think. Don't worry too much about what others think of you when you mess up. The last time I checked, they can't walk on water or bring a raging storm to rest. Each and every one of you are the most beautiful and pure being that God has ever seen, and he wants to look past your transgressions so he can nurture you, uplift you, and bring you life.
1 Corinthians 13:12 "Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely."
