It’s Okay To Not Be Okay

As Christians, we often think we have to be perfect or we’re going to screw everything up, or something crazy like that. This thinking puts insane pressure on us to be perfect all the time, and it’s just not realistic. That’s why we have a saying around Cross Point – it’s okay to not be okay. It’s okay to have doubts. It’s okay to mess up. It’s okay to be imperfect. The beautiful thing about Christianity is that it’s based on God’s love and grace for us, rather than our good works. However, that doesn’t give us permission to give up on living the way God intends for us to live.

Because we live in a sinful world, it’s easy for us to get off track and lose our way. Even the most devout Christian can be derailed. Day in and day out, we face an endless stream of demands, desires, pressures, deadlines, duties, and expectations. We get tired. We lose focus.

This past summer I had the incredible opportunity to visit the world famous Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. Now, I’m a Tennessee Titans fan through and through, but the opportunity to visit a place with so much history was a real treat. My boys got to run out of the players’ tunnel to the sound of tens of thousands of fans (there wasn’t actually anyone there; they just pumped the sound in over the stadium loudspeakers).

We got to walk around, soaking up all the cool history and stories about the different players and coaches who have been a part of this beloved franchise.

I love the story about Vince Lombardi during the years he coached the Green Bay Packers and fashioned them into a team that would win five NFL championships and the first two Super Bowls. Every year, on the first day of summer training camp, he would assemble the team. He would hold up a pigskin and say, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” This was Lombardi’s way of reminding these professional athletes that no one is ever too good to work on the basics.

It’s the same way in our lives. If we don’t build in times of recalibration – of renewal, resetting ourselves to the standard – we risk drifting gradually into spiritual carelessness and apathy. We lose our connection to the authentic. And perhaps more vital, when we encounter those soul-shaking times of trial and fear, we won’t be conditioned to sense God’s constant, comforting presence.

It’s a simple but profound fact – if you are living in a way that is out of tune with God, you will not have the confidence you need to live out His dreams for your life. Only by committing yourself, over and over, to placing your supreme trust in God and in him only will you remain in sync with the way God means for you to live your life.