Perfection

Yesterday while working out with the three oldest boys I noticed Taylor kept getting frustrated if he did not get things right during our training routine. After his running we talked while walking back to the field house. I asked him about why he kept getting so frustrated. He replied, "I demand of myself to be perfect."

At that point I stopped him and replied, "Taylor, nobody is perfect but Jesus. Perfection is never going to be a realistic goal. You can strive for excellence but you will never be perfect. We would not need Jesus if we were perfect."

I am not perfect. I have been through struggles in planting this church that reveal that. I am angry and frustrated more times than not. This causes me to live on edge around Brenda and the boys. I am not perfect in my trust in God. I am not perfect in my devotions. I am not perfect as a pastor. I am not perfect as a husband, father, or friend. My flesh is alive and well and rebels against God constantly. No, I am far from perfect.

Isn't the very fact that we are not perfect just one way God reminds us we are not equal to him. Take for instance my writing. I cannot tell you the number of times I find a typo, misspelled word, or a word omitted in something I have written even after I am other people have edited them. I go back every time I write and proof read these posts and other writings and yet I find errors all the time. That frustrates me. When I put my name on something I write I want it to be done with excellence. I make mistakes. My mind works faster than I can write. This is just one more area to show me I am not perfect.

Nobody is perfect. I think of the scores of people who feel the pressure to perform at work, in the classroom, and on the field. Yet part of human nature is to fail. We are fall short of perfection. The Bible puts it this way. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." [Rom 3:23] Imperfection is part of the human condition. None of us are immune. We rebel, stumble, get things wrong, and fail.

The quest for perfection has been broken time and time again. Just ask the New England Patriots who went to the Super Bowl with a perfect record a few years ago but lost to the New York Giants. Just ask the Miami Heat Basketball team who went on a 28 game winning streak only to be beaten recently by the Chicago Bulls. The 1972 Miami Dolphins football team won every game that year. They had the perfect season but what happened in 1973 and every year since then. The University of Connecticut women's basketball team went on a winning streak that lasted for seasons but eventually even they were beat. We fail. We lose. We fall short.

Anybody who thinks they can will themselves to perfection and therefore into heaven is fooling themselves. We all fail. We say things we should not say and then do not say the things we should. We dwell on things we should not dwell on and then do not dwell on the things of God as we should. We say yes when we should have said no and say no know when God wanted us to say yes. We give into fatigue when God wants us to press on in service to him. We press on at times in overcommitment when God would have pull aside to rest for a while. We are not perfect people.

But we serve one who is perfect. "Keeping our eyes on Jesus the source and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that lay before him endured a cross and despised the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God's throne." [Heb 12:2] The word perfecter can also mean finisher. Jesus is perfect spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. None can compare. Therefore it is easy to swear my allegiance to Him. The closest I will ever come to perfection in this life is when I live life completely surrendered to him and he lives through me. This is what Paul meant when he wrote, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, for Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." [Gal 2:20]

It is the perfection of Christ that I trust in Him when I come to the end of my life. I put no confidence in myself. I have failed. I have cast my faith and entire hope on Christ for not only salvation but to put me in the right standing before a holy and just God. There are no sweeter words to my soul in the Bible than the ones I read in [II Cor 5:21]. "He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." It is Christ who will cover us with his perfect righteousness before his Father.

No my brothers and sisters. We are not perfect but Jesus is. O, look to him. Cast your lot with him. Trust in him. Put your faith in him. Submit to him.Now, Jesus Christ is perfect. Perfect in holiness. The perfect resemblance of God the Father. Perfect in every way.