If we step into the pursuit of truth, we will find some things that make us uncomfortable. This can cause some of us to bail on the quest. Self-awareness leads to the inevitable truth that we are broken and wretched, miserable, blind, and in need.
Yet, a continued pursuit of truth allows us to find that we are also okay, accepted, loved, and adored. How is this so? How can these two realities live side by side?
The answer is one word: grace. We are okay not because we decide we are okay or because we choose to ignore the reality of our brokenness. We are okay because Jesus makes us okay in the sight of God. Through his life, death, and resurrection, he mends the brokenness. The fullness of Jesus fills in our gaps.
As heirs, sons and daughters of his family, we are now freed and empowered to pursue the experience of grace. Grace is not only the water in the desert for dying, imperfect beings. It is the fuel in the car. Once we are rescued, it is the thing that enables us to drive forward, to excel, to act according to the grace given us.