I'm embedded in my own culture too. Not to say that all of my culture is incompatible with the Gospel, but there is so much superimposed onto Jesus that it's hard to even see Him sometimes. And I hate that I struggle so much with performance orientation, that I have unreal expectations for myself (if not 100%... I need to get a 95%!) and that when it comes to comfort & demand, I weigh so much heavier on "demand." Or that I think to myself, "what is wrong with me?" when I feel that I've failed to reach perfection.
One of the most heretical (and common) sayings is this: "I feel like I can't pray/talk to God because I've failed Him or I'm not good enough." or "He must not love me because I've failed." (I hear this a lot from Asian Americans.) That statement doesn't reflect the doctrine of grace at all. For one - of course we aren't good enough; that's why God must be loving if he extended unmeasurable amounts of grace through his son. When many of us have faced high expectations from our own families, we may need to entirely reorient ourselves to just how good of a Father God can be.
Post a Comment