Christ made me new, not perfect

In my journey from the lost to the found my conversion from a 'regular' person to a Christian has garnered some interesting reactions from others.  When I proclaimed via Facebook that I was getting baptized a friend asked me, "so does this mean you can't listen to Slayer, anymore?"  Okay, two things, #1.  I haven't listed to Slayer in a REALLY long time, their music hasn't appealed to me for quite a while and not because I'm Christian, but simply because I don't find their dark music entertaining.  #2.  Just because I've discovered the freeing power of Christ's love doesn't mean I'm no longer me.  I still have a beer when I want one.  I still wear jeans and t-shirts.  I still watch TV shows that have cursing and violence.  The difference is my reaction to the world around me.  Do I limit or remove certain things from my life, yes, but not because there is a commandment for me to do so. I do so because what ever that object is, it does not benefit me physically or spritually to consume it.  Make sense?

After getting baptized I didn't sell off all my worldly possessions, don a potato sack robe and start wearing Birkenstocks.  Come on people!!  This unrealistic view of what it means to be a Christian is both frustrating and laughable.  Some how I am expected to never utter a curse word, to never drink alcohol, to only watch G rated programming... the list goes on.  The concept that if I am not perfect, then I  must not be a 'real' Christian is YOUR baggage, not mine.  My desire on this earth is not to please you, it is to be pleasing to God.  I am not perfect, I can never hope to be.  That my friends is why Christ's scarifice is so vitally important to the human condition.  We are all fallen, we are all wretched sinners, weak in flesh but strong in spirit.  Even Jesus reminds his discpiles of that fact in Matthew 26:41  “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  The flesh is weak, we are an imperfect race.  We are born into sin and temptation.  What changes when we become 'born again' is not our physical state, but our spiritual ability to be free from the burden of our sin debt.  A debt as mere mortals we are unable to pay.  Ultimately at times we will fail to resist worldy temptations.  The difference between me and you is, I don't have to bear the burden of that sin debt anymore.  I can forgive myself and accept forgiveness and move on. 

Each day I strive to be a better version of me.  I seek to learn from the mistakes of my past, with out dwelling upon my failures.  I am not perfect, I can never be.  What I can be is a better me, I can be more loving, more kind, more patient, more understanding, more forgiving...  I can put away the past and leave it there because I'm not that person anymore.  I am new, not perfect.