April 4, 2001 Devotion

"HAVING therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God." 2Corinthians 7:1

If the world were controlled by perfectionists, there would be no place
for those who can never quite measure up to their standards. On the
other hand, if the world were under the domination of people who wake up
in a new world every day, we would probably suffocate in the
accumulation of our own garbage within a week!

Fortunately, "practically perfect" people like Mary Poppins manage to
get mixed up with the Dick Van Dykes of the world. A husband who is so
organized that he can predict with a fair degree of accuracy when his
next shoestring is going to break, inevitably gets paired with a wife
who hasn't the foggiest notion what she's going to prepare for dinner at
3 o'clock in the afternoon. A wife, with such an obsession for
cleanliness that she jumps out of bed at 1 o'clock in the morning
because she suddenly remembers an orange juice spill she forgot to wipe
up, marries a clod who comes home from a hunting trip and tracks mud all
over the floor she just cleaned. So goes the struggle between perfection
and the spirit of tolerance.

There is a certain amount of tension in every serious thinking
Christian's mind concerning the biblical call to perfection. In one
compartment of the brain, there's a tug to live up to all the standards
of Christ, but then on the other hand, our attempts to measure up to
those standards are always flawed.
The New Testament clearly articulates the need to "perfect holiness out
of reverence for God." Perfection does not usually mean sinlessness in
the Scripture. It usually means something like maturity or completeness.
Even that can be illusive. Paul admitted that he had not "been made
perfect" (Philippians 3:12). Yet he did not attempt to excuse himself
from pursuing the goal o perfection. He said, "I press on to take hold
of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." The person who excuses
himself from serious effort because nobody's perfect, is just playing a
game and he is not even playing according to the rules.

While it is self-righteous and hypocritical to claim that one has
already conquered the flesh at any point in this life, we play a deadly
game of self-vindication when we ignore the pursuit of perfection.
God Bless you as you perfect yourself through Christ's eyes today.

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