Conforming to Faultlessness…

Benjamin Franklin once said, “How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.”

What does it mean to be “pure in heart”? Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” To me, being pure in heart, means conforming to faultlessness; striving for “Christ excellence”. I strive each and every day to conform to faultlessness, it’s definitely not easy, but what in life is?

In thinking through some of my past I recall several times when I have found myself at fault for different things.

But does that mean I am not conforming to faultlessness?

 I really wrestled and am still wrestling through this, because I have failed so many times and I am sure there are more times to come, but each time I think, not only did I fail at what the situation was, but also being pure in heart. But being pure in heart is not a matter of you are or you are not. Christ is the only one who can say HE IS FAULTLESS! As Christians we are given the responsibility to grow in every area, and this is one of those areas that is part of a growth process.

I think Benjamin Franklin hit it on the head when he said, “how few are there who have enough courage to mend their faults.” It’s hard to take ownership when it involves faults because let’s face it; no one likes to be at fault. It’s even harder trying to mend them.

I remember growing up with my sister and getting into fights with her, and one day she was chasing me around the house with something she was going to hit me with, well my mom just so happened to come home from the grocery store and put a 24 case of 7-up in the middle of the kitchen. So as I proceeded to escape the wrath of excruciating torture from my sister, I tripped over the case of 7-up, broke my foot, landed on the dog and got bit. However, the first thing out of my mouth was, “It’s Kala’s fault”. Yes, she was chasing me, (I will never admit what she was chasing me with), but indeed she was behind me threatening my “life”/my arm or whatever she was going to hit me. As a child it was my prerogative to never get beat up by my older siblings, and this was one of those times. I could have sat there and let her beat me to a pulp with the mystery item she was holding, but I chose to RUN! I ran from the pain.

Please don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that we should never run away from pain, especially physical pain, but this was just an example of how I didn’t want to take the blame, especially since the truth came out later that I was antagonizing her in the first place, which caused her to run after me. But I was never going to admit that I was “at fault” in that situation. (Especially when it cost my parents money to take me to the hospital to fix my foot, and take the dog to the vet to be put down, because my dad would not tolerate the dog biting us kids) It’s so much easier to place blame on someone else, especially if it relieves us from initial consequences.

But maybe claiming our faults is part of conforming to faultlessness?

 It certainly is the honorable thing to do in any given situation, but more importantly it is Christ. Christ is faultless; therefore we should strive to be faultless. Claiming your faults, I believe is the first step in conforming to be like Christ. Conformity often times means the desire to be like “x”. Well conforming to faultlessness (Christ) is the desire of my heart and if that means claiming my faults then it’s worth it.

Let the conforming begin!

 

 

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