Be Perfect
Be Holy, For I the Lord your God am Holy (Lev 19:2)
So be perfect just as your Heavenly Father is perfect (Mt 5:48)
The wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God (1 Cor 3:19)
It is said that man plans and God laughs, “The Lord brings to nought the plans of nations, he foils the designs of people.” (Ps 33:10) I propose a new kernal of wisdom, “Man interprets God, and God weeps.”
For my thoughts are not your thoughts. (Is 55:8)
Be perfect. What is perfection to man? What images immediately come to mind? Another contemplation would be, “When do you see yourself as less than perfect?” My image of perfection earlier in my married life was to be a reflection of my idol of the time: Martha Stewart. I wanted to have the perfectly organized, clean, well decorated house. I wanted to grow my own food. I wanted perfectly planned and manicured gardens. I wanted people to ooh and aah over the feasts I presented. I pursued the hand- made holidays. I pursued this construct of perfection, chasing after the false god of admiration of others. Isn’t that what most of us interpret on a day to day basis when we place the ideal of perfection upon ourselves? What will make others admire us, approve of us, perhaps envy us? God weeps. God’s command and our actions often have a disconnect. If life were a cartoon we would see the wily character who manipulates the train train track switches derailing us. That wily character is the devil and he is indeed derailing us.
Get behind me satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do. (Mt. 16:23)
The devil is the master of deflection and he has us working very hard, and investing a lot of energy into an illusion so that we keep our real focus off of the actual intent. Have you ever heard someone use the phrase, “living the dream”? Did you ever think how approprot that statement is? It is usually in reference to the rat race we have created and it is a “dream”. The “dream” is not God’s truth, intent, or reality. We are not called to live the dream as Christians, we are called to live “the way.”
I am the way, the truth, and the life. (Jn 14:6)
What is perfection? You shall not turn to idols. You shall not hate your brother. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge. Love your neighbor as yourself. Offer no resistance to one who is evil. Turn the other cheek. If anyone presses you for one mile, go two. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. (Lev 19/ Mt 5) Perfection is a quality of our heart. It is not just about the absence of wrong action, it is the presence of loving action. This is the perfection of God, loving action. How often humanity slaps His cheek, presses Him into service, asks forgiveness. Day in and day out, out of love, He grants us so much and more.
For He makes the sun to rise and set on the bad and the good, and causes the rain to fall on the just and unjust. (Mt 5:45)
This is holiness, this perfection; to live an existence of love independent of return. I recently learned a beautiful bible fun fact. The word Jesus uses for “perfection” is only used twice in the Gospels. Here and on the cross. When Jesus utters, “It is finished”, He utters the same word as perfection. To be perfected is to be finished. We are a work in progress. Today we begin Lent, a season of allowing ourselves to be turned, challenged, changed. Let us spend time in prayer to root out the false perfection we work towards and strive instead toward the love God calls us to.
