Perfection

  We cannot be perfect in this life. We cannot be a perfect husband or a perfect wife. We cannot be a perfect parent or a perfect child. We cannot be a perfect employee or a perfect employer.  We cannot be perfect in our profession or in any position. We cannot create perfection. It doesn’t matter if we are creating something out of wood, metal, cloth, technology or even with the ingredients we might put into something we might eat. There is always something we miss, something just slightly askew, something we add, something we miss-calculate, something we push too hard at or something we neglect to correct perfectly. There are things we must change, something we may scar somewhat or something internal we not plan for. There is always some variable we did not see interfering as something is not needed, something forgotten as we are rushed or something is remembered when we are taking our time.   

     None of us can function in any of our creating, day to day living or work and or in any relationship; unless we realize the fruitlessness of thinking of perfection as attainable. This is not to say that we cannot be very good at something. Maybe it enough to put as much as we can in all that we do, try and complete. Maybe it is enough to desire to be very good. Maybe it is enough to have a loving passion for what we do and who we are. Maybe it is enough to pursue the development, commitment, the learning and adaptation to be the best we can be what we do, make or become. Maybe it is enough to strive to be very good at what we create and become better and better as we learn, do and strive for excellence at what we do. We can be very good as spouses, parents and friends by being loving, sensitive, caring and adaptable as we put all of our heart and dedication into those relationships.  Realizing we all have some distance to go in all we do, achieve and aspire for; allows us to adjust quickly through instinctual reactions that have been hewn by our experiences and knowledge or adapt and modify slowly through calculation and evaluation by assessing the goal of being better at what we do. An element of humility enters into all of this as we become self-aware of changes we need to make in ourselves to become a better person.

     There is a practical aspect of grace needed in any examination of the aspects of perfection.  All of us are in need of grace to make up for our sinful imperfections in order for each and every one of us to be saved (Ephesians 2:8). We cannot attain a life free from sin and so grace is needed, not only to save us but to remake us.  We need grace as well in every one of our relationships.  We need grace from others because we cannot be perfect and we need to give grace as we realize everyone else is just like we are.  Any expectations of perfection in others are thus softened in the mutual need for grace in all of us. Finally we need to give ourselves grace as we are humbled by our mistakes, inadequacies and even as our goals drift just out of reach despite all of our efforts. Grace applied to our daily living allows us to become more, as grace changes how we do things and the results of all we do. Grace is given life in its honesty and thus it empowers us to good.  

      We may never be perfect, but grace applied by anyone to anything allows the imperfect to be perfectly restored, redeemed, changed and remade. That might be the greatest perfection we may see as we live out, all of our days, given to us through the grace of our Heavenly Father.

“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you”

(1 Peter 5:10, ESV).

Love was and is and is to come …

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!  (1 John 3:1, NIV)

  Love extols kindness, attention and affection. Love gives, sacrifices, moves, does, tries, cries, feels, sees, becomes, saves, lives, reaches, changes, touches, encourages, pushes, lifts, remembers, helps, stands and overflows with grace because love stands through anything. Love is consistently kind, sacrifices all, dies to selfishness and self-centeredness, moves in dedication, tries in all ways, cries deeply, always feels, sees all, becomes what is necessary, lays down its very life to save, gives without condition, reaches beyond danger and damage, changes bitterness and brokenness, touches all hurting needs, encourages in the brightest and darkest, pushes through all impediments, lifts up our very souls, remembers details, forgets hurts and sins, helps appropriately anointing its actions with grace.

     Some note that love is an action or a verb. Of course love is a verb but no verb with a thousand adverbs can describe the infinite capacities and potential of love, as it does or is doing something. No verb or adverb is adequate at any moment to define love, as love overflows and leaks out from any descriptive attempt to capture or contain it. Some note that love does, but as surely as love does; it balances the scales with what it does not do. For as surely as love does, it rests securely on what it does not do as well. For example, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy … (1 Corinthians 13:4, NKJV).”  The essence of love ironically shows its value, significance and power; not by taking, declaring, demanding or claiming love but by giving, sacrificing, releasing and demonstrating love.

     God is love (1 John 4:16) and He does demonstrates His love for us by His actions in loving the unworthy (Romans 5:8) but love is not simply in His doing or His not doing; it is Who He is. What is done or not done is simply the action and demonstration of His love. God was love in creation desiring relationship. God is love in His steadfast and longsuffering caring attentive love given to us while offering abundant grace as He withholds judgment. God is love, which is love to come, as He will welcome us into His loving presence for eternity through Jesus Christ our Lord.  There is no beginning to His love nor is there any end to His love. Love is the essence of God, without beginning and without end. God is infinite and so is His love.

     Still as finite creatures, we struggle as we cannot define the infinite love of God. Maybe it is enough to sense and be ever grateful in the fullness of God’s great and extravagant love poured out upon us through our Savior’s grace. Maybe it is enough to open up our hearts to His love as it overfills our hearts through the communion of the Holy Spirit. We will be blessed over and over again as Christ dwells within us and we can come to know “how wide and long and high and deep” (Ephesians 3:18) His love is as we are filled up with the fullness of God.  

     As human beings created in the image of God; we were created with great capacities to love and we see love all around us in the sacrificial, caring and powerful actions of people loving others. As followers of Christ, we are also called to tap into God’s great and extravagant love which now richly dwells in us.  His love for us; changes us through the grace of Jesus Christ as we become a “new creation” in Him. This should compel us to love as we have been loved. When we love one another with Christ’s love, we leave the mark of being a Disciple of Christ (John 13:34). Let us always love with His love, in word and deed. It is how we best demonstrate that we are children of God.

“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18, ESV).

Suggested Reading … 1 John 3:1

God’s faithfulness …

“The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!” (Ruth 2:12, ESV)

  There is something quite remarkable in the story of Ruth. We often speak of Ruth’s love for Naomi but there is more to the story. The real story of Ruth, is most powerful as it glows moment after moment showing the ever present and attentive faithfulness of God towards Naomi and Ruth. Of course, Ruth shows tremendous love towards Naomi and gives us a timeless example of courage, dedication and devotion as she commits and offers her vows of love towards Naomi. Ruth’s forsaking of her home and earnest commitment to Naomi is truly inspirational and significant but without the hand of God, honoring her true and sincere love, the story lacks its power and significance. It is God’s faithful provision in the course of events that completes the theme of the story.  God honors faith, God honors love, God honors His promises, God remembers the covenants with His people and He honors those covenants in the people who love, trust and honor Him like Boaz, Ruth and Naomi.

    When there is nothing around us but bleakness and our very continence drifts towards bitterness; God’s ever present faithfulness and steadfast love is working on our behalf because of His great and steadfast love.  He was working on the countless details that would replace the place of famine and hardship in the life of Naomi to a place of honor and blessing through Ruth and Boaz.  Even though the story of Naomi and Ruth is centuries old; our Father in Heaven loves and provides in the same mighty and caring ways in addressing our positions and situations. In the end, it is our perspectives and our hearts that He changes as He works out our good in His plans for each of us.  His benevolence and provision will always come to those under His wings as a refuge.  When Naomi speaks of her life being “bitter,” (Ruth 1:20) because God has forgotten her; the simple truth although unseen, is that her loving God is working feverishly through everyone around her to bless her. 

  

     God’s faithfulness is not fleeting in the bleakness of any situation but attentive in the countless details of His loving actions which we cannot see.  He will use all things to bring about good in our hearts and lives.  God’s faithfulness remains fixed upon us as it was fixed on Naomi.   Rest assured, there are people like Ruth and Boaz of true faith, integrity and love, midst the famine-like situations surrounding us, which God will use to eventually bless each one of us.  Our Heavenly Father is always faithful and will always take care of those that come to Him for protection and provision in the refuge, He provides under His wings.

“Then the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him’” (Ruth 4:14-15, ESV).

Suggested Reading … The Book of  Ruth

Enough or More

“And Hannah prayed and said, ‘My heart exults in the Lord;   my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.’ ‘There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.’” (1 Samuel 2:1-2, ESV)

  The human spirit will at times cry out from a place of harassment and mistreatment and shout … “Enough!”  “I have had enough pain, enough injustice, enough sacrifice, enough difficulty, enough suffering and enough mistreatment.” Out of this place and position of desperation, a person can easily began to plot a plan to inflict pain, revenge and even evil towards their tormenters. A person may also in this dreadful position, look for a way to just escape the mistreatment.

     Still on relatively rare occasions, some exceptional people of faith; will in this same awful position look for something more. Even though they may be suffering in their emotional health, physical wellbeing and clinging to their sanity by the tiniest thread of hope with their overallotment of “enough.” They see something more.  They see something of greater substance, something of greater power and significance … something greater than themselves. Their faith is not in something greater but rather is someone greater than themselves. This greater someone, is the living God. Amid the ashes of burned up dreams, the bitter soil of chastisement and the endless blistering of mistreatment; this enduring the person of faith will sees the fertile soil of God’s enduring love, attentive care and His promise of a potential abundant harvest. In the midst of anything and everything, the person of faith looks to the living God as their Savior and provider of life. They lift up their eyes to the One higher and greater. Even though the trials of the moments and the suffering of the season might be painful, their hope rests upon their Heavenly Father.

     Hannah a great woman of faith in the Old Testament was in worst of places in her inability to have a child in a culture where fruitfulness in bearing children was seen  not only the blessing of God but of extreme importance in the continuance of the family.  She was disregarded, and constantly and scornfully reminded of her heartbreaking situation by her husband’s other wife. Although her husband loves her deeply, he cannot do much to alleviate her sad brokenness over all of this heartache.  Yet, she hangs unto the hand of God, trusting when she cannot see any new hope. Praying faithfully in the midst of pain and presenting her offerings faithfully to God. After years of heartbreak and tears, God delivers an abundant harvest in the gift of a son named Samuel.  The name Samuel means “God hears” and His gift of Samuel is the shining example of the enduring faith of Hannah and the great love and faithfulness of God towards her. 

     In the midst of everything and anything, Hannah held on to her faith and trusted in God through her heartbreak and tears.  Her faith was life to her because her life was in the hands of God.  She lifted up God and He lifted her up.  In the midst of everything and anything, we can trust our Lord and Savior to be life to us, as well. Jesus Christ is more than sufficient in everything, when we dealing with more than enough of everything and anything coming against us.

“Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you

 when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy” (Psalm 61:1-3, ESV).

Suggested Reading ... 1 Samuel 1& 2