Called to be Perfect

(by Lorie Codispoti)

Have you heard the expression that “perfect is the enemy of good”?

Now, if what someone means by that phrase is that we will never progress to the good thing if we demand absolute perfection in every area, then I would agree. Perfection can be a vicious task master that wants nothing more than to enslave its victim to the point that they never see the beauty & freedom that resides within the “good” that God designed for us to experience.

I confess, I have fallen prey to the perfection bug, which I now think is subconsciously rooted in a desire (fear) to control every little detail of life. (Pretty ridiculous to think we are in control of anything.)

I don't think there's anything wrong with setting high standards for yourself, but there is a problem with setting unrealistic ones.

For example:

For many years I worked incredibly hard to perfect my skills as a seamstress, but no matter how precise I was there was always a flaw - a crocked seam, right sides imperfectly matched, etc. Few people would have ever noticed, but the problem with demanding perfection is that nothing is ever good enough. Sometimes I have to remind myself that a lack of perfection does not have to mean that something is inferior. It’s better to have a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without one. (Chinese proverb)

So if perfectionism isn’t all it’s cracked up to be then what about Jesus’ command for His disciples (which we are) to “… be perfect just as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” (Mtt.5:48)? Is the Bible wrong when it says that Noah, Asa, Job, David & his army were all perfect? Did they embody some sort of moral perfection that the rest of us will never attain?

Unfortunately, our default to Jesus’ command for us to “be perfect” is usually the worn out excuse that none of us is perfect. However, when our understanding conflicts with what we are reading in Scripture it’s important for us to stop & take a closer look at what God meant for them & then before we attempt to apply it to ourselves today.

Our culture defines “perfect” as being free from blemishes, like the airbrushed models on magazine covers - the epitome of fake perfection. But the word Jesus uses for “perfect” in Matthew 5:48 is not rooted in external features or behaviors. The biblical meaning communicates completeness or wholeness. It can also mean maturity.

The context of this verse is key to understanding the kind of perfection Jesus is talking about. The goal is for our faith to be complete, whole, & mature; something that comes through the process of sanctification.

Note that Jesus’ command in verse 48 is a summary statement. It follows the point that God wants us to extend impartial love to everyone - even our enemies - in the same way that He does. To love with partiality is to imitate the wicked. But Jesus tells us to imitate the Father (as does the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:1).

After Jesus tells us to “be perfect,” He says “just as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” In the same way that children imitate their parent’s, we are to imitate & extend to others the kind of impartial love the Father has extended to us. Our love may never equal the perfect love of our Father, but that’s not an excuse. The love we extend to others can look like His in its quality. Through His indwelling Spirit He enables us to love - perfectly.

We are all flawed diamonds in the rough, but that should not dissuade us from seeking to be like our Father & loving others with a complete, whole, & mature perfection. I have seen God sanctify the flaws right out of His children. Why, I’ve even seen him turn a pebble into a diamond that sparkles so bright under the Light of the Son you’d never believe it was once filled with so many blemishes it was unrecognizable. God perfects every precious stone that desires to imitate Him.

May we all be “perfect” & shine with the love of Christ.

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