I believe there is a God. And since there is a God, there is immense freedom and grace for me. Because I am not God.
You would not know there is a God from looking at the lives of many Christians. What do I mean? There are at least five key things that are true about me since I am not God:
I don’t know everything. This doesn’t mean I know nothing. I know a lot of things. But the weight and responsibility of knowing everything does not rest on my shoulders. What does lay on my shoulders is the responsibility to do my best to know what I ought to know, and to do my best to live and think and talk in light of what I know.
I don’t know the future. I can not predict what is coming. I do not know what will unfold, whether we are talking about a year or a month or a day from now. I can not perfectly guess or prepare for what is coming. What I can do is try to cultivate wisdom in my own thoughts and actions, to be prepared the best I can for the unknown.
I am not good at everything. We live in a culture that glorifies people who are portrayed as superhuman. No matter how rich or famous or powerful or talented any person is, they are still human. We have lost the idea of genius, that individuals have a contribution to make. I am not the same as anyone else, and that is ok. I have a contribution to make, and I have strengths and weaknesses.
It is not my responsibility to judge others. Only God knows the thoughts, intentions, and motives of other people. I am not responsible for the words and actions of anyone other than myself. It is not my responsibility to render judgment about other people. I am not the standard against which other people are compared, and other people are not the standard against which I am compared. I am responsible for my words and actions, for what I do and fail to do.
I will screw up. When I make mistakes or do something wrong or in any way fail, it is not a surprise and in fact it is expected. The truly surprising thing would be if I was perfect, since only God is perfect. I am mystified by people of faith who seem to believe they are perfect or human perfection is possible. My faith well prepares me to understand that I will fail and sin in any number of ways, and also prepares me to do the work of repenting and believing yet again. I am responsible to be honest about my failures, and to continue cultivating a life of faith in spite of my shortcomings.
What would you add to my list?