If you accept Jesus, you are complete.

Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and [b]through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses. Acts 13:38-39

By: Carol McClain @carol_mcclain

I was raised in a church tradition that never offered complete eradication of sin. Always a stain remained and sacrifices had to be made to cleanse myself.

Then I found Jesus. Unfortunately the church I joined enjoyed its own set of rules in its quest for holiness.

Did you have a gift of teaching? In order to utilize it, you first had to prove yourself. Try scrubbing bathrooms.

Were you a faithful member? Prove it. Sell what you have and give to the body.

Believe in healing but didn't receive it? Check your faith. The healer, prophet, preacher wasn't wrong, you were lacking.

Silly me followed this dictate. It bled into my perfectionist tendencies. And I lost sight of the truth of the gospel.

If you accept Jesus Christ, you are complete. 

1. You do not have to volunteer to work in a church. 
2. You do not have to crawl up steps on your knees. 
3. You do not have to run around making all things right. 
4. You do not have to fast for days on end.

If you accept Jesus Christ, you are complete.

Of course, we cannot ignore the book of James. Christ will transform us. We will serve others. We will make things right. We will demonstrate our faith by our works. However, working doesn't make us whole because it's grace that saved us.

If we fall back on the laws of Moses and man and find our justification there, then the whole of the law becomes ours to carry out. Blood sacrifices and all.

I'll choose grace.

Click to tweet

If you accept Jesus Christ, you are complete. (click to tweet)

No works necessary. You are complete in Christ. (click to tweet)

What Is Perfection? I'll Show you: Photo Expose

Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. Luke 12:27

By: Carol McClain @carol_mcclain

One of my favorite spots in the Montreal Botanical Gardens. If you ever want to see perfection, go there--especially from now until early summer.

On an ordinary day, this piece of paradise will awe you. In 2013 they offered a Mosaicculture. The work could stun an archangel.

Who, in her own ability could match the above floral arrangements?

And far better photographs than mine can be found at: http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/07/mosaiculture-exhibition-2013-at.html

Galax--hand-polished by the Creator

Friends and I love to hike the Smoky Mountains. Unlike the stupendous Adirondacks, they don't offer a non-stop sweeping vista. As we walk, we hardly ever look up. But down? A world, insane to see is there for our viewing.

Pat, Marcia and Annie Margaret taught me to look closely and discover a beauty that rivals the grandeur of botanical gardens. Crawling under leaves to get a shot, I discovered Dutchman's Pipe.

Tucked along the path are the inspiration for Georgia O'Keefe's Jack-in-the-Pulpits.

In the Galax, God, Himself, bowed down and polished each leaf to a high gloss.

And Cinderella's glass slipped never rivaled the Lady Slippers we discovered.

So, too, in our lives, we don't have to be mosaicultures. As wild flowers, we offer the world the perfection of God.

Unexpected, we discovered
over 20 pink Ladies' Slippers

the Dutchman's Pipe, found by looking under the leaves

Cinderella in all her glory was not arrayed like this

More beautiful than a Georgia O'Keefe

Quick Tweets

Even Solomon couldn't rival these. Click to tweet.
Don't strive. You are perfect in Christ. Click to tweet.

Mistakes: Make Them Good

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" Rom. 8:1.

Mistakes. Ever make one?

Usually we don't like to admit it--especially publicly. But I have little pride.

Mistakes are good.

Last week began my crazy week. I taught at a woman's retreat, had approximately 3.5 tons of yard work to complete and then needed to prep for a Missions Retreat this weekend before I left for my daughters.

In that mess, a casual friend held the memorial service for her mother. Where could I fit that visitation into this schedule, especially as I live twenty-minutes from town.

Skip the pizza: serve the person.

I had the perfect solution. On my way home from the retreat, I stopped at a pizza parlor and put in my to-go order. I headed over to the calling hours.

Ordinarily, these gatherings have a long line of mourners, so I figured I'd take my place in line, offer condolences, spend ten-fifteen minutes and then take dinner home to hubby and collapse.

When I arrived, I was the only visitor. Of family, only four people beside my friend attended. My heart broke at the loneliness and isolation she must have felt. 

My friend showed me, with great pride, the few mementos she had of her mom. I watched the video and tried to keep straight the family members she pointed out.

Choose life

But my mind whirred.

I was exhausted. My pizza was cooling down the road. A twenty-minute ride loomed ahead of me. Yet, grief, loneliness and isolation wrapped themselves here in the church sanctuary.

After a half-hour, I allowed the evil trinity of my current life compel me out of the sanctuary. I picked up my dinner and headed home.

I was wrong.

A quick phone call to my husband would have allayed worries about my delay. The pizza had been paid for, and we had an oven to bake it in. I should have stayed.

Lessons of a Recovering Perfectionist

• No condemnation. I felt bad, and I should have. Life and friendship is more than the busyness of our own selves. I needed to use this time to learn a lesson.
• Mistakes teach us lessons. Do you think I'll ever let my life dictate my love for others again? Nope. I married a good man. My love for others outweighs my comfort--and people will take a higher priority in my life until I get it right.
• Perfection comes only though Jesus. I goofed. But when the missions conference rolled around, we had an extra room. My closest friend who organized the trip for our church asked me if this woman whose mother had passed should be invited. With glee I nearly leaped up and down. My answer, "Yes, yes, yes." And we were able to bless my friend. I grew to know her more. 

Quick Tweet

Mistakes make us grow. click to tweet

Lessons from a recovering perfectionist. click to tweet

How have mistakes made you more Christlike?

Cause # 2 Perfectionism: Legalistic Leaders

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20: 25-8

Since my earliest days as a Christian, my zeal was to be in the dead-center of Christ's perfect will. That translated into perfectionism. Perfection turned to legalism.

It didn't help that the church I had belonged to strove for holiness. It taught we could miss God's perfect plan if we weren't flawless. And if we missed His perfect will? How could we live with ourselves?

And for some reason or other--I never reached perfection. As a matter of fact, once when nominated for a position as deacon--in this church, that meant janitor/custodian--the  pastor took my name off the list. He told me, "You've made great strides, Carol." (Sounds good, right? And you know a BUT will follow). "But there's still something that needs to be perfected. Something's not quite right."

Yikes.

No matter what I did, I did it wrong.

Typical example. I tried singing with the praise band--really a place I had no business, but my heart had been right in prayerfully making this decision. We believed in prophesy. I had been told numerous times that I would sing, compose songs and so on. 

At this time, I had been learning bassoon, but improv was hard for me. I figured if I sang, I could figure it out and eventually play my bassoon with the band.

While in the background chorus, never did I dominate. Never did I hog a microphone--mostly, I stood back. 

Then one day, I discovered, the sound manager turned off the mic. I was angry. Wouldn't you be insulted and angered and horrified and sad?

However, I knew how to keep my mouth shut. I don't gossip. I don't fly off the handle--at least it takes a lot, but I did tell someone close to me how much this act by the sound man, a friend of mine, hurt me.

A week or so later, the pastor called me for a meeting. I didn't know about what, so I blithely  entered his office and discovered my friend the sound guy sitting there. The entire microphone incident turned into a fiasco that was pinned to me. I had no right being upset. I was ungodly, unchristian and wrong.

And the fault in this church was always  seemed to be mine. (And yes, I am well aware of my faults--one of which is blaming myself for not being perfect.) 

But here's the deal. Perfection will never be humanly achieved. Holiness is God's alone.

God looks on the heart--and the heart guides our motives. He corrects wrong motives. When we die, Jude 24 says God will present us faultless. 

We have to wait until we die in order to be perfect. (click to tweet)

On earth, our perfection is only found in His sacrifice.

For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Heb 10:14 (click to tweet)


If you are in a relationship: church, family, friendship, where someone is legalistic and controlling, you must either leave it or correct it or get counseling.

Not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 1 Peter 5:3 (click to tweet)

Have you been in a relationship where people try to control you?