Imperfect is Perfect for God // A Christmas Thought

The Holidays are here meaning 2016 will soon be in the archives. But before this year is over there are still many memories yet to be made, because well…that’s what the holidays are for.  With Christmas, tradition, and memories in mind I hope you will take time to appreciate God in the imperfections.

I know that perhaps sounds strange. Because we often think of God in terms of perfect, without blemish, pristine.  But if the story of Christmas, that is the story of Jesus’ birth, teaches us anything it is that God shows up most often and most beautifully, in the imperfect.

So I invite you this Christmas season to look for God’s hand in the imperfect. See Him in that Christmas tree with the bald spot you missed when you picked it out, that casserole that doesn’t turn out right, the family photo with the one person whose eyes are closed, the house that is messy, the car that leaks oil, the kid in the choir that has to pee, the string of lights that doesn’t twinkle like it should… well you get the idea. God is in the imperfect.

I was reminded of this the other day at a For King and Country Christmas Concert at the Sun Dome. It was a marvelous show, complete with lights and smoke and lasers.  At one point in the show, the band played one of their hits, Let My Life Be The Proof.   It was a crowd favorite, evidenced by the 7,000 worshippers with hands raised, eyes closed, singing at the top of their lungs.  It was a great worship moment.

I was taking it all in when I noticed a young gentleman to my right in a wheel chair.  His hands were raised, his eyes were closed, his head down and he was singing with everything that was in him the lyrics of the chorus:

So let my life be the proof,
The proof of your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love

-For King and Country

As he sang those words with such conviction, I was deeply moved. Here was a man bound to a wheel chair who was praying that his life (with all of its obvious imperfections) would be proof of God’s love.  And you know what? He doesn’t know it but in that moment last Tuesday night God did use his life and his imperfections to prove His love. Because he proved it to me through my brother. 

My prayer for you this Christmas is that you would see God in the imperfections. That you might see God’s hand at work in your own imperfections and in those of the loved ones around you.  When you sit at the table of friends and family with the assortment of imperfections each one brings, God is there. 

Christmas teaches us this.

The First Christmas was wrought with imperfections. An inconveniently timed birth. No room. A feeding trough. Smelly animals. Sinful shepherds. Poverty.  And yet, tight smack in the middle of that imperfection…God!  It turns out that imperfection is the perfect setting for you and me to experience God’s presence.

So this Christmas, my prayer is that you experience glorious moments of imperfection!