Being Godly Doesn't Mean Being Perfect - The Hot Mess - Melissa Clay

Growing up, I thought the church was my second home.  I was there for 8 o’clock service, Sunday school, 10 o’clock service, 6 o’clock youth meeting, Wednesday night choir rehearsal, you name it, I was there. Church seemed to follow me around like a shadow. I could recite the Ten Commandments, 23rd Psalms, and Philippians 4:13 on command. I was kind of “Churchy” as some would say.  I loved Jesus, and I loved church!

Now the other days of the we, believe it or not, I was still and angel and Jesus was still in me…. but somehow the Heaven 97 dial on my radio from Sunday switched to K104 hip hop and R&B!! I sang along to all the songs; I listened to and owned every Nas album before he married Kelis, and then the CD’s just disappeared, no questions asked. A few years down the road, similar behaviors, I became even more active in the church, yet I enjoyed Boones Farm, shooting the breeze with my friends, and dancing at night clubs to Webbie’s INDEPENDENT! As I continued to grow, now, Heart and Soul is my new K104, Boones Farm is now Barefoot, and night clubs and shooting the breeze have turned into a quiet evening on the patio, and church is still my second home.  

Jesus still lives in me and loves me! I’m not perfect, but I grow and strive to be more and more like Jesus daily. If heaven is DART, I’m running after it, but the bus driver sees me in the rearview and slows up.  God knows me; God knows he created a music loving, cutting the rug, aged grapes loving lady, and God doesn’t expect me to be perfect. Yet, God does expect me to try and be as Godly as possible. And being Godly doesn’t mean perfection, it’s knowing who you are and being better.  

Being Godly doesn’t mean giving up Beyonce for Karen Clark Sheard or jeans for skirts. Being Godly is Iove... true love... and remembering who and whose you are.  I think of the laws God put in place for the Israelites to live by. God gave the Ten Commandments  AFTER  they had been redeemed; he wanted to make sure they continued to head in the right direction. Jesus’s law still pushes us in the right direction. My grace is sufficient, and my power is made perfect in weakness.  So, in any area of life where you are feeling convicted or you think may need some cleaning up, be better and be Godly.