The scripture for today in Preparing for Easter includes Matthew 5:48 - Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. To be honest, that word ‘perfect’ grinds my gears these days for more than one reason.
First of all, that scripture has always bothered me. Why is Jesus telling me to be perfect? I’m not supposed to be. God is supposed to be. Why would that even be in here? Real mature, I know.
Second of all, my daughter is currently fairly preoccupied with being “perfect”. Literally, as I typed that sentence, she huffed from under the dining room table where she is working on her art for today and said in a displeased voice, “Uhhh! I need a new piece of paper,” and she stomped to her room to get one. No imperfection in her own work settles well with her right now.
But back to God. I looked at the commentary in my study Bible this time instead of just coasting through the scripture I didn’t like/completely understand. The explanation mentions completeness, not perfection. Then I went to blueletterbible.com, my favorite online Bible resource. I looked at the original meaning for this specific usage of perfect. Completeness.
Some mention of being perfect, but of the 5 definitions listed, 3 of them have to do with being complete.
C.S. Lewis packs a few punches in Day 3 of this devotional. I wrote them in my journal immediately upon reading them:
The question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what He intended us to be when He made us.
We may be content to remain what we call ‘ordinary people’: but He is determined to carry out a quite different plan. To shrink back from that plan is not humility: it is laziness and cowardice. To submit to it is not conceit or megalomania; it is obedience.
He makes the comparison earlier in the essay (which is an excerpt from Mere Christianity) about parents being excited when their babies take their first little steps. I mean, I cried when my daughter took her first steps at 10 months, then again when she actually “walked” (penguin waddled) at 12 months. If you’re a parent or a close-knit friend/aunt/honorary family member, you did too. No shame in that. Because it was my daughter’s first literal step in life. Her first step toward a future I pray for, a future I desperately hope is favored, a future I dream and plan for on the daily.
Those first, wobbly, unsure steps are our littles’ first steps in them becoming their full, complete selves.
As such, God is delighted in us when we take our small, incremental steps toward being complete. When we take our small, stumbling steps toward the full person He has created us to be. We are obedient to His call for fullness of self in Him. When we do this, when we practice becoming our full self in Him, we do all the things that bring Him joy — we draw nearer to Him, we advance His kingdom, we help advance others in their fullness, which in turn draws them nearer to Him and continues to advance His kingdom.
It’s almost like He planned it this way.
Life is not about being perfect. It’s about allowing the “extras” that come along for the ride as God works on making us our complete selves as He intended for us to be. We pray for patience, but we also have the chance to be kind and generous. We pray for wisdom to make good choices, but we also have the chance for diligence and dependability. We pray for peace, but we also have the chance to practice rest and trust.
May you experience God’s full delight as you draw nearer to Him with your wobbly, unsure steps.
May you remember that as you take more wobbly, unsure steps tomorrow, God’s delight continues as you pursue who He has intended you to be.
And may you remember that you are one piece of God’s perfect, infinite, eternal picture, and your fullness is just one piece of an entire kingdom over which He reigns.
Tell me about you: what makes it tough for you to set ‘perfection’ aside and simply work on ‘completeness’?
P.S. In case you’re wondering, my daughter finished her bald eagle drawing after her 3rd attempt. She was happy with it and moved on to drawing an LOL doll. … #homeschoollife