I love the part in My Big Fat Greek wedding when Ian and Toula are talking and she reminds him that they met when she was working at her family’s Greek restaurant. She says something like, “I was going through my frumpy phase until, well, just now.” He responds, “I don’t remember frumpy, but I remember you.” I love that.

That’s what we strive for as believers. To see each other and remember not the colossal failures and fiascos and screwups, but to remember the good. To see not the messed up past of a person, but to see forward to what they are becoming and will one day be in Christ.

If we’re honest as believers, we have to admit that we are weak, broken messes who don’t have the answers and who lose their way frequently. We’re not as strong or wise as we think we are. Even our best moments are filled with fears and doubts, striving and self-loathing, hiding and excusing.

As we mature, we see not how much less we need grace, but how much more desperately we need it every single moment of every single day. We need each other. We need to forgive and be forgiven constantly, starting with ourselves. We need to be real and open and transparent with each other, carrying each others’ burdens and sharing their joys and sorrows. We constantly need to be restored and revived, to keep each other honest, and each of us need to know that we are worth the effort it takes and that no true believer ever gives up on another true believer.

As a believer, I can say through Christ, “I will be your eyes when you can’t see, your voice when you can’t speak, your light in the dark when you’ve lost your way, your friend when you feel alone and deserted, and your biggest fan when you feel most discouraged and most messed-up. I will be your burden-bearer, your hope-restorer, and your faith-rebuilder. I will do my best to show you what the love of Jesus looks like through my words and my actions to you.”

Let us love each other radically and fully. Let us show the world what true faith looks like, as opposed to those who just carry the name Christian but deny it with their lifestyle. Let us win the world by our own lifestyle of radical love, passionate faith, and unswerving hope in Jesus Christ.