Genesis 1:27 “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them…”
There it was! It was the first thing I saw and simply could not get it out of my mind as we stood and beheld the impressive flower garden in Portsmouth, England. At the very spot where the WWII D-Day invasion was launched, right in the middle of the massive bed of red and white flowers commemorating its 75th anniversary stood one rogue weed.
I stood and contemplated my options. With people everywhere snapping photographs, it seemed unlikely that I should tiptoe into the center of the display and pluck that weed. Yet I hesitated to capture the scene in a photo, because THERE WAS A WEED IN THE MIDDLE! Try as I may, the grandeur of the flowers was lost on me due to the one small imperfection that lay before my eyes.
What is it that causes us to fixate on imperfections? We live in a culture that admires and endorses perfection in all things: our bodies, our homes, our jobs, and our parenting skills. We can allow this quest for perfection to monopolize us and prevent us from seeing past the blemishes to notice the beauty.
So, here is your friendly reminder for the day: We are not perfect.
Perfection exists exclusively in Jehovah God. Because we are not perfect, we have a tendency to overlook our assets, obsessing on our deficiencies. When our eyes see only our imperfections, we begin to doubt our strengths, our abilities, our beauty, and our potential, allowing doubt to be the great killer of them all.
Seeing imperfections is not exclusive to our generation. Moses focused on the imperfection of his speech and failed to see the great things he would do through the power of a mighty God. Gideon fixated on his fear and could not visualize the tremendous leader he would become as he journeyed with a powerful God. And Eve’s eyes honed in on the promise of the forbidden fruit, blinding her to her perfect life of paradise with God.
As mothers, when we focus only on the dirty kitchen floor, we fail to see the blessings of the little ones who left behind those precious footprints. As employees, when we disagree with the newly implemented policy, we lose sight of the many benefits our jobs yield. As Christians, when we focus only on our shortcomings, we overlook the incredible mercy and grace God provides us as we overcome them.
Remember, we are not perfect! But we have a Heavenly Father who is.
Father God, may we learn to see past our imperfections and focus on the big picture: a life with You.
Blessings,
Rita Cochrane
PS. I never did pick that weed. I suppose it remains to fluster tourists to this day.
The majority of Christians I know equate perfection with sinlessness. We know that cannot be the definition because everyone has sinned and died spiritually at one time or another (Romans 7:7-9). So if perfection doesn’t mean sinlessness, what does it mean?
We have a strong indication in Philippians 3:9-16.
9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect (the original Greek says, as many as are being perfected), be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
OK, so the Apostle Paul says he was not perfect, but he was serving as an example for us to follow AS he followed Christ.
Finally, we come to understand that perfection is not something we gain suddenly. Paul’s letters to the churches show he was struggling many times with fears, failures, and faults he had to overcome. However in 2 Timothy 4:6-8 we read this beautiful passage:
For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
The word ‘perfection’ actually means *complete.* When we have gained all the parts of God’s love, we can stand before God complete. See also: John 17:23; Heb. 5:9; James 2:22; 1 John 4:17, 18.
The best part of this growth to perfection is this great and precious promise found in 1 John 4:16-17.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because *as he is, so are we in this world.*