I think our biggest failure as "Christians" is that we still try to hide our failures like Adam and Eve did in the garden. We try to portray this image of being perfect all of the time and protect our image at all costs. I think we are meant to be admitting we are being broken and let the world see that our relationship with God helps heal our brokenness and reaching out to others who are broken with empathy and relating to their brokenness from a very real connection. Instead of being real, we put on our fake mask and look down our plastic nose at those that fall and pretend we are perfect. We miss out on the blessing of connecting with that person and letting God love them through us. That is where God can truly use us. Look at the stories in the bible and find me one person that has their story told who truly made a difference to others by appearing perfect all the time. It seems to me the ones Jesus was continually locking horns with were those who tried to appear perfect (pharisees) and he reached out to the hurting and broken on a daily basis.
In today's world those that are always creating and protecting their image seem to fall then "the world" looks at them and thinks we are all hypocrites and it does more to tarnish God's image than those that admit they are broken to begin with. God is quite capable of surviving whatever folks might think tarnishes His image and He has always used broken vessels to bring glory to His name. So whose image are we trying to protect, ours or His? Just something to ponder! ;)
