Finding Imperfection

There’s an old adage that states the more closely you study the things that man has done, the more imperfection you will find. Conversely, the more closely you study the things that God has done, the more perfection you will find. Every sculpture, every masterpiece has its flaws, but have you ever inspected a snowflake, a leaf, the detail in the human body? The deeper you delve more and more the detailed perfection will be found. Thus, in our dealings with God as spiritual beings whose treasure is found in earthen vessels, why do we spend so much time focusing in on all of our imperfections? Why do we allow ourselves to be convinced of our every flaw and human frailty when we as humans are fundamentally imperfect? Ever since that fateful day when sin and corruption entered into God’s creation, men and women have begun life with a sin nature in their blood. No amount of good behavior escapes that reality. Try as we may, we cannot perfect that which is imperfect. Instead our task, though it be only known by very few individuals, is to accept God’s perfection in place of our own attempts at gaining it. Have you been obsessed with finding your imperfections? Is your focus of life centered on your own imperfections? Does your relationship with God suffer because of your preoccupation with sin? Have you been deceived into finding imperfections?

It is always ironic to me that the people who care most about what God thinks and are concerned with what God says is right are often the same ones seeking to find perfection in their imperfections. They work themselves over unmercifully feeling bad about this and guilty over that. All enjoyments God lavishly provided for his precious creation are viewed in a bad light with constant threats of potential excess, bad motives and generalized warnings about how things will get you. There is no fun in their fun. There is no ability to relax and be at peace because doing so will surely lead to disaster. They spend today lamenting yesterday’s missteps and in doing so, miss today. They are risk averse and think breaking any rule will lead to unmanageable consequences. They are in effect prisoners to sin and the consequences of sin. The harder they work to overcome sin, the more susceptible to sin they become. They are forever upset with themselves for some potential violation with the result that heaven’s brass. Add to that a vocal world proclaiming a never ending list of requirements to please God. In this we are deceived in trying to make our imperfection into perfection.

Though the whole world would disagree, God’s plan for mankind was never that he should live this way. It is not pleasing to God spending your days mired in guilt for your mistakes and your foibles. God is well aware of your imperfection and as such devised a new plan to forever free you from this way of thinking. You cannot earn your way into God’s righteousness no matter how hard you work. Sin nature is in your blood. Howbeit many still work hard at this endeavor to their own misery and lack of fulfillment. You cannot make your imperfection perfect. God makes your imperfection perfect in the life of His son Jesus Christ. Jesus lived God’s Word perfectly so that you and I would not have to try. He was a perfect man and he never sinned. He came into the world with sinless blood and by the sacrifice of his blood we have been made forever righteous in God’s sight. The perfect for the imperfect. Once we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and that God raised him from the dead, we receive God’s spirit inside of us and from that day forward cannot sin in God’s sight. This was God’s plan to save man from himself. By doing this God set us free from the claims of sin and wrong. Every time we insist that we know more than God and persist in remembering and rehearsing our misdeeds, we deny what God did for us in Christ. None of us like to make mistakes or do things that are not right, but as imperfect creatures it is going to happen to all of us. In this God forever solved our dilemma by introducing the perfect for the imperfect. He made a way for us to prevail by relying on the works of another man. That is grace and that is God’s love for us.

There’s more to the dastardly practice of focusing on our imperfections rather than focusing on God’s perfection. The one behind those persistent painful reminders, those dreadful accusations, the guilt and every condemnation is the devil, the enemy of God’s people. He knows that if he can turn your focus away from God and onto yourself, you will fail every time. If he can get you to look away from God and hone in on your own human imperfection you will lose the fight. You will not have confidence in God to be all that He said He would be for you because you have sin-consciousness. Jesus died once and for all to deliver us from sin-consciousness. Jesus Christ’s sacrifice removed the devil’s authority over our lives. But, if we don’t know this or worse don’t believe it then we will be forever bound by sin and the claims of sin. We will spend our days lamenting sins long past and in short reducing our expectations for a happy, healthy. prosperous life. We will feel as if we deserve sickness and struggles because we just don’t measure up. But in this we are being deceived. What God did He did once and for all who will believe. Jesus wouldn’t be a very good Savior if you and I still had to save ourselves. Sin, guilt and condemnation do not come from God. They come from the devil.

All of us in this life will be challenged by this reality. All of us at one time or another will be talked out of God’s goodness toward us, His perfection, His willingness to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. Indeed the whole quest of man is centered around believing God to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. Every time it becomes about you, what you are doing and what you are not doing, you have fallen off track. God’s goodness towards you is not based on what you do or don’t do, it is based on His unconditional love, mercy and grace. We receive God’s blessings when we believe what He says and He says all throughout the Bible our redemption would come via the life of His son. You ain’t going to get there on your own folks. You cannot earn it no matter how good you endeavor to be. So give yourself a much needed break. Quit focusing on your humanity, your imperfections, your absurdities. Stop looking at that which can never be made perfect and look toward His perfection. Relax and enjoy your life and your fun. Stop second guessing your every move and motive. You are not the evil one, on the contrary you are the good one. God knows you love Him and He knows you care about what He thinks. He already knows your heart. If He can look past your imperfections in the life of His son then you can also. Stop finding imperfection. Find His perfection instead.

Just some good thoughts…