Love Your Flaws

On Tuesday we had our two-weekly small group gathering. We planned to tackle 1 Corinthians 13 and 14, and I expected we’d be done with chapter 13 within minutes, because it’s so well-known. Nothing was less true, since we spent all evening thinking about love as portrayed in that chapter.

At some point we got talking about our personalities, and our flaws. Someone remarked that we’d probably all want God to take away our bad characteristics. We all agreed; indeed we wanted God to take away our flaws in the blink of an eye.

But he doesn’t. Why not? Why did Peter have this tendency to rashness? He said some pretty stupid things for an apostle-to-be. Why was Thomas such a stubborn skeptic? That’s not really handy when facing a resurrected Saviour, right? These qualities can’t be very useful to Jesus. They can even be very disturbing: “Go away from me, Satan!” Jesus said to Peter when in his rashness he was opposing Jesus’ death.

Jesus doesn’t take our bad qualities away. But he does do something. He changes them into good ones. He turns water into wine – and good stuff too. C.S. Lewis once said that “badness is only spoiled goodness”. So very true; our character flaws are only good qualities spoiled by sin and Satan. But it means God doesn’t have to completely take away these qualities of ours – instead he gradually changes them into good ones so that we become more and more the image of his Son.

Peter was the one who denied Christ; he was the one who wanted to prevent Jesus’ death. But he also was the one who confessed that he believed that Jesus was the Son of the living God. He was the one who said he wouldn’t leave Jesus, because he had the words of life – and where else should they go? Peter is the apostle who makes this amazing speech with Pentecost. He heals people. God clearly uses his boldness, his enthusiasm, and takes away the bad side of it – his rashness. God uses Mary’s quietness because it makes her a good listener; he uses Thomas’ scepticism because it will make him search for more proof. He turns all our flaws into fantastic qualities.

So we should offer up our lives in spirit and truth, and ask:

Jesus, what can I give

What can I bring

To so faithful a friend

To so loving a king?

Leave everything at his feet, including your flaws. Jesus conquered sin and death, so don’t think he can’t use them. Remember that “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). God can even use your mistakes.