How do you define it? How do you achieve it? To whom do you ascribe this standard? I am in awe of how much I don't know about the Lord. My preconceived notions of what I thought was gospel and what actually is, has been blown apart. Which brings me to the title of this post. I can define perfection as being mistake free, without error or blemish. In my humanity I have sometimes placed that label of perfection on people I respected in the church. In my flawed thinking, if I could just be more "spiritual" like them then all my problems would be solved. Truth is, that was unfair of me to place such high and unattainable expectations on those people, because at the moment they failed to measure up, I was setting them and myself up a huge disappointment. It is my belief that we(I know I'm not the only one) have place these standards of perfection on our pastors and leaders in the church. And when they let us down it gives us the excuse to cut and run because we got our feelings hurt.
What makes me think that if I can't achieve perfection in this body that anyone else could. As church folk we have been real good at shooting our wounded. It is no wonder that the world doesn't want to be a part of the body. Why would anyone in their right mind want to be a part of something that is loving and encouraging one minute and shooting each other in the back the next. I admit it, I am guilty of doing the exact thing, which qualifies me to speak with authority on the matter.
So I have decided that as long as you and I can agree on Christ's death and resurrection and what that blood did for us, then the rest is not that important. I see through a glass darkly and I only know part of the story. There is power in my words and I choose to use them to speak life. God has convinced me that He knows what He is doing and that while He appreciates the advice :) He can handle it just fine. I am done making the gospel complex and unappealing. I am looking to the author, creator and finisher of my faith to perfect in me what I could not and would not do on my own. I hope this makes sense, I hope it brings comfort to all who read it. I've just made up my mind that it is time to start destroying the enemy and not those who labor beside me.
To be continued....
3 comments:
Preach Preacher! You know ... I thank God for you daily ... I shudder to think what would be if You and Hoddie had just given up on me. It sure would have been easier ... and so easily understood. That you guys didn't makes me so grateful ... and thankful and I'm spilling tears on my keyboard ...
When it would have been easier for me to cut and run, when I had said God it is time to move on, you said "No". Thank you for helping me stick out the difficult time with our pastors and our church because now we see in a new light what was happening and understand the plan and purpose. Hind sight being 20/20. Thank you for reminding me again that none of us are perfect, we still have "Jacob" moments.
Thank you for your post J. We today are in a society that lives to run when things get tough. Don't like your marriage... get a divorce and start over. Kids too much work or interfering with my personal time? Leave them and let somebody else deal with it. Don't like school? Quit... I'll just get my GED. Our society is running scared from everything now days, and sometimes it seems even worse in the church. It is time to take a stand and show others what faithfulness, loyalty, patience, compassion, grace and love is truly about. Unconditional love.
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