I want to tell you a story that might help you or someone you know, who may be in the same situation.
There was a lady one time who wanted to get married, she had been dreaming about, thinking about, planning for it, she could wait for that day to arrive.
Well, one day she had went to a social function and there he stood, perfect hair, perfect teeth, perfect body, his clothes was pressed and his shoes shined.
The more she got to know him, the more she realized how truly perfect he was, he knew what to say, how to act, he knew how to behave in any situation.
He knew so much about every subject, politics, religion, ethics, business, relationships, civil matters, she couldn’t help herself she was drawn to him.
Then one day, she married him, she made that commitment to him, but she soon found out that though he was perfect, he did have one character flaw, he was a perfectionist.
So in other words, he was perfect and he expected her to be!
And there is something bad about living with someone who is perfect, who never makes a mistake, it wears on you, and your relationship and your life.
She tried, she really did, she tried her hardest!
She tried to do right, she tried to say the right things and act the right way!
But she failed, and when she failed, that’s when the cursing began.
And as time went on, as much as she thought about being with someone who was perfect would be great, the constant standard he set was to hard to reach.
The more she failed the more miserable she was, her marriage had become a great burden, a heavy load to bear.
One day she was introduced to a young man, and there was something about Him, something she was drawn too.
But she knew she was a married woman, she had made her commitment, “to death do us part” , so she put that young man out of her head, and continued on in her marriage.
Then one day she woke up and turned over to look at her husband, and there he laid, with his perfect hair, perfect teeth, perfect body and she realized that he was perfectly dead!
Now I know that she should have been heart-broken, she should have been tore up, but deep down inside of her a sense of relief, because now that stage of her life was over.
Now time had went on an she was reintroduced to the young man she had met before and she began to spend time with Him, and not long after they met, she began to read the love letters He wrote and it wasn‘t long before she fell in love with Him.
Then they got married, and she realized that, He too was perfect and He was a perfectionist but there was something different about Him.
Yes, He would point out her faults, but then He would try to help her be better, try to help her do right, he would encourage her.
She found herself becoming a better person, not because she had to but because she wanted too!
They lived happily ever after!
Romans 7:1-4-Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?
For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.
So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.
Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. (NKJV)
Galatians 3:10-For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
The first one she married was the law and it could point out all of her mistakes, all the things she done wrong, but it could not help her, it could not make her any better.
It had a standard, a standard that she could not live up too!
The second husband is Jesus, yes, He is perfect, and does point out her flaws, and her imperfections and our flaws, our imperfections but Jesus gives her the strength, the will power, gives her the encouragement to live better, to act better, talk better, and He gives those things too!
He helps us to change not just on the outside, but also in the inside!
Maybe you come today and you have tried to do right, you have tried to follow the rules.
You have tried to act good, to be good but you find yourself far from the standard, far from what the law requires of us.
It has become such a burden to try to live up to the standard of the law, or to the standard you have set for yourself and you are weigh down with all of your sins, all your mistakes, all of your faults.
But Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:28-30)
