Dear Daily Message Readers,
READ: 1 Peter 5
1 Peter 5:10 (NASB) "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you."
In American baseball, there is nothing more elusive than a perfect-pitched game. Very few pitchers have achieved such a goal, and many sportswriters agree that very few ever will. You see, one mistake can turn a pitcher's dream game into their biggest regret.
Milt Wilcox, a pitcher who chased this dream, was pitching against the Chicago White Sox one day when he retired the first 26 batters. With two outs in the ninth inning, he was just one man away from a perfect game--only the eleventh in more than 110 years of major league baseball. But White Sox batter Jerry Hairston got a hit, and Wilcox missed his place in history.
Much like the pitcher's dream of throwing a perfect game, living a perfect life escapes our greatest efforts and strivings. We get up in the morning determined to get it right today, but before we know it, we have sinned. The same thing has happened to countless servants of God in the Bible. We can see from these great biblical characters how tough it is to achieve perfection. For instance, God called David "a man after My heart" (Acts 13:22), yet even he fell into sexual sin and murder with his involvement in the life of Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11). And Paul, the greatest missionary ever, admitted that he did what he didn't want to do (Romans 7:15).
Sadly, all of us fall short of perfection (Romans 3:23). That's why it is our responsibility to confess our sins to God and accept His mercy and grace. Even when the curse of imperfection hits, we can learn from it and keep on growing.
Will you allow the Holy Spirit to transform and shape your imperfections and weaknesses for His glory? Faith Lesson: You will not be perfect in this life, but you can let God mold your life into something great now.
In Christ,
Darin Smith
READ: 1 Peter 5
1 Peter 5:10 (NASB) "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you."
In American baseball, there is nothing more elusive than a perfect-pitched game. Very few pitchers have achieved such a goal, and many sportswriters agree that very few ever will. You see, one mistake can turn a pitcher's dream game into their biggest regret.
Milt Wilcox, a pitcher who chased this dream, was pitching against the Chicago White Sox one day when he retired the first 26 batters. With two outs in the ninth inning, he was just one man away from a perfect game--only the eleventh in more than 110 years of major league baseball. But White Sox batter Jerry Hairston got a hit, and Wilcox missed his place in history.
Much like the pitcher's dream of throwing a perfect game, living a perfect life escapes our greatest efforts and strivings. We get up in the morning determined to get it right today, but before we know it, we have sinned. The same thing has happened to countless servants of God in the Bible. We can see from these great biblical characters how tough it is to achieve perfection. For instance, God called David "a man after My heart" (Acts 13:22), yet even he fell into sexual sin and murder with his involvement in the life of Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11). And Paul, the greatest missionary ever, admitted that he did what he didn't want to do (Romans 7:15).
Sadly, all of us fall short of perfection (Romans 3:23). That's why it is our responsibility to confess our sins to God and accept His mercy and grace. Even when the curse of imperfection hits, we can learn from it and keep on growing.
Will you allow the Holy Spirit to transform and shape your imperfections and weaknesses for His glory? Faith Lesson: You will not be perfect in this life, but you can let God mold your life into something great now.
In Christ,
Darin Smith
