Perfection

"I cannot be perfect; it is hopeless; and He does not expect it." - It would be more honest if he said, "I do not want to be perfect: I am content to be saved." [People of this mindset] do not care for being perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect, but for being what they call 'saved'.

- George MacDonald

If you will here stop and ask yourself why you are not as pious as the primitive Christians were, your own heart will tell you, that it is neither through ignorance or inability, but purely because you never thoroughly intended it.

- William Law

That no keeping but a perfect one will satisfy God, I hold with all my heart and strength; but that there is none else He cares for, is one of the lies of the enemy. What father is not pleased with the first tottering attempt of his little one to walk? What father would be satisfied with anything but the manly step of the fullgrown son?

- George MacDonald

The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were 'gods' and He is going to make good on His words. If we let Him - for we can prevent Him, if we choose - He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or a goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.

-C. S. Lewis

The idea of perfection among Christians seems to be one that none are very clear on, at least not in any clear agreement on. You will hear one set say that once you become a Christ follower, that does not make you perfect, only forgiven. As a matter of fact, you will probably hear most mainline denominations tell you that. I posted this series of quotes because they present an idea that was never presented to me (teachers and preachers of my youth please forgive a faulty memory if it now fails me) growing up. The idea is that perfection is possible. The idea is that perfection is the intent, is the end result that He has in mind for all of us that will allow Him to finish his work. There's a quote above that says we are not as "pious" as the first Christians because we never fully intended to be. There is a trap that I've fallen in that goes something like this: "I'm not perfect, I can't be perfect, so I will just keep on doing X and God will forgive me for it." The trap is that I never really took it to God during the moments of truth, during the times that temptation was at its peak and asked Him to help me escape. Why? Because I never fully intended to escape the temptation. Part of me wanted out, I guess...but the stronger part of me, the part that intended the pleasure promised by the temptation was the part that would win out, again and again. Not long ago, during the peaks of temptation, I began hitting my knees and praying to God for strength. I would pray to Him for the ability to overcome the temptation, to actually escape. More times than not, the temptation went away, or something else came up that made it impossible for me to follow through. Perfection, I think, is possible. We can't do it ourselves though. We can continually call out His name to help us in the direction of perfection. It is something that must happen over a course of time, and perhaps over the course of several lifetimes. He intends to make us perfect. We have no excuse to throw up our hands and say that perfection is something that happens after we die, and give up any resistance to imperfection we have in this lifetime. Perfection may be very impossible in this lifetime, but it is up to Him to decide how far from it we are to be. The only thing I think I can do that's right is to throw up my arms and say I am defeated...I need your help, Lord, to be what you want me to be; to be the best that you know I can be.