Flaws Are Not The Issue. How We Manage Them Is.

Yesterday, after posting thoughts about the president posting an image of himself as Jesus (or a doctor..), someone messaged me and asked, "How does a flawed man justify attacking the flaws of another flawed man?"

The question was not asked in a rude way. Which I appreciate. But it was definitely asked in a way that made it clear the messenger was coming to the defense of the president.

I responded that my post was not an attack on the president. If it was an attack at all, I said, it was an attack on the group of people who follow Jesus AND believe the president's post reflected Jesus in a way that invited others to follow Jesus.

Because after all, that is the ONLY mission of a Jesus follower: to invite others to follow Jesus.

I suppose this is a good place for a side note.

I had voted Republican my entire life before faced with the choice to vote for President Trump. The only reason I did not was because of the damage I believed he'd do to my invitation to others to follow Jesus. I wish I could say I was wrong about that, but in my opinion, I had no idea how right I would come to be.

And I assure you, I don't say that with any sense of victory.

But let me continue.

I am glad the messenger acknowledged that I am a flawed man. Because I am. Deeply. I believe I've been fairly open about that over the years. To the point I've had friends suggest I'm too hard on myself.

Additionally, I do not suggest that my flaws are any less flawed than the president's flaws. For it is Jesus who makes it clear a flaw is a flaw.

Matthew 5

21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.

So this is not me taking issue with a flawed man.

My issue is this man's flaws have an inordinate amount of influence on the entire world. This compounded greatly by the man's inability to see his flaws as flaws.

One of the most beautiful parts of me accepting this invitation to follow Jesus is I no longer have to hide my flaws. Jesus has no desire to make me flawless, but to ease the burden of my inevitable flaws. Burdens released by confession and repentance and forgiveness.

The circular gift of Jesus I take advantage of daily.

But this president has openly said he feels no need to confess. Or repent. President Trump said in 2016: "“Apologizing is a great thing, but you have to be wrong. I will absolutely apologize sometime in the hopefully distant future if I’m ever wrong.”

And then in the same year he said: “Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness if I am not making mistakes?”

Yesterday, when confronted with the idea that many people had been offended by his post, the president blamed a segment of the media for making his post into an offensive story. The same response he offered after posting images of Michelle and President Obama as apes.

So no, the difference between the president and I is not our flaws - it's how we manage them.

And here's a bigger piece of the equation.

I own my flaws because my second deepest desire in life is to look like Jesus. And trust me - every day - that is FAR more desire than reality. But, when I mess up, when I flaw, the greatest hurt I suffer is the realization that I have damaged the image of Christ.

Why does that hurt so much?

Because my first greatest desire in life is to live life in eternity with Jesus. If Jesus invited me into eternity right now as I'm writing this, I AM OUT OF HERE - my deepest desire in life fulfilled!!!

But I don't want to go to Jesus without a close relationship with him. And the way to a close relationship with Jesus is giving him my flaws. My struggles. My hurts.

Recently - on many occasions - the president has suggested he won't go to heaven.

Most recently he said, “I don’t think there’s anything going to get me in heaven. I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make heaven.”

When I see a post of the president insinuating he is God - it makes me wonder if the president has more interest in BEING God than being WITH God.

The beauty of my flaws is they daily remind me just how much I need to be with God. But there was day, I confess, when I wasn't great at owning my flaws. And in those days, I didn't need God so much because in my mind God had nothing to offer me I couldn't get on my own.

I need to own my flaws to get into heaven. But much more than that, I have to own them to feel a closeness to the one I so greatly long to live my life with when I get there. If I did not have that longing, it would become much easier to overlook or completely ignore my flaws.

Franklin Graham, a prominent evangelical Christian conservative, recently said that our president has been raised up by God for just a moment like this.

Here's the thing - I don't dispute that.

President Biden was raised up for just a moment like this.

And President Obama before President Trump.

But you know who else has been raised up for just a moment like this?

Me.

You.

God has raised us all up for the moment we are in.

The question isn't have I been raised up BY God, it is how much do I long to be raised up TO God.

The answer to that largely determines who I want to be in the AI image:

God.

Or the man WITH God.