What can you realistically expect to be or accomplish? That depends in part on how you define “realistic.” Nobody knows what we’re capable of better than God, and often His definition of “realistic” is “potential.”
He knows our limits—“He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust”1—but He also sees our hearts and continually looks at us from the viewpoint of what we can become.
God expects us to do what we can, but He doesn’t expect us to be perfect. He knows we’ll never be perfect, and if we’re smart we’ll realize that it’s foolish for us to try or pretend to be. We have to do our part, but our part isn’t to be perfect—and that’s the beauty of God’s plan!
Once we receive Jesus as our Savior, He lives in us. And if we remember that we’re weak and imperfect, His Spirit can work in and through us. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”2 His strength is made perfect in our weakness.3 God loves to do extraordinary things through some of the most unlikely, imperfect people who find themselves in seemingly impossible situations. He does that to show us what He can do. It’s never about how good or strong we are. It’s about God and His goodness and power.
With God nothing is impossible, and He knows that no matter what has happened before or what our current weaknesses or lacks may be, we can change; He can work in and through our circumstances. We must learn to see ourselves through the eyes of faith, through the perspective of what we can become, what God’s transformative power can do in us, what Jesus can be in us.
So what if you aren’t perfect! Who is? You can still be a fruitful Christian if you let the Spirit of God work in you and through you. His Spirit will fill in the gaps of the problems and imperfections. God doesn’t need perfection from us to work His wonders.
Make room for God to work by not looking at your shortcomings and imperfections, but rather by looking to Him to help you reach your full potential as you do your part to “let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”4