Perfection is not the enemy

[Wynona]

There is so much that I found but I will try to keep this brief.

A popular Christian song lyric goes "perfection is my enemy".

The Bible is not against perfection. God desires that we are perfect. I looked up the word perfect in Scripture and found is over 120 times in the KJV translation.

Our society tells us that perfection is an impossible standard and to strive for it is psychologically unhealthy.

But God's Word not only says perfection towards God is possible but God expects this from all His followers.

Here are just four verses out of the dozens I found on perfection.

Matthew 5:47-48
King James Version

47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Deuteronomy 18:13
King James Version

13 Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God.

2 Corinthians 13:11
King James Version

11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

Colossians 1:28
King James Version

28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

Why has perfection gotten such a bad rap even amongst Christian circles?

I think its part of fallen human nature to resist being perfectly obedient to God.

But rather than reject perfection as this impossible standard no one can achieve, we should truly ask how God feels about it.

Maybe some of what we've been taught is wrong and God is right. Maybe we should humble ourselves and ask for hearts that are perfect before the Lord.

 

[Lambano]

There is so much that I found but I will try to keep this brief.

A popular Christian song lyric goes "perfection is my enemy".

The Bible is not against perfection. God desires that we are perfect.

I understand where the lyricist is coming from.

The Bible exhorts us to strive towards eliminating sin (both sins of the flesh and more spiritual sins like pride), to strive to love God with all our heart, mind, and strength, and to strive to love our neighbors as ourselves. Sometime God empowers us to have victory over our sins. But for many, many people, He does not. Some of us have tried to be obedient - yet we keep struggling with the same old stuff. Besetting sins. Addictions. Coming to grips with the real demands of loving God with heart and soul, and loving our neighbors. Those of us who have tried to be perfect and keep falling, we eventually break. The effects can be devastating. Some of us give in to despair - we were doomed before the foundation of the world. Some to resentment - we were not given the gifts that others were given. We had to learn the hard way: We have no other choice but to trust God when He says, "My grace is sufficient for you."

I've been there.

I broke.

In a night of fervent prayer, God asked me, "Why don't you trust me?" I found that if I trusted God to still love me even when I stumble and fall, I actually did get better.

Keep striving for perfection. I hope you never break like I did. But if you do, I hope you'll remember the guy on CB with the funny Italian-sounding screen name, and remember this: Trust in God's love. In the end, we have nothing left to hang on to.

 

[Not me]

I understand where the lyricist is coming from.

The Bible exhorts us to strive towards eliminating sin (both sins of the flesh and more spiritual sins like pride), to strive to love God with all our heart, mind, and strength, and to strive to love our neighbors as ourselves. Sometime God empowers us to have victory over our sins. But for many, many people, He does not. Some of us have tried to be obedient - yet we keep struggling with the same old stuff. Besetting sins. Addictions. Coming to grips with the real demands of loving God with heart and soul, and loving our neighbors. Those of us who have tried to be perfect and keep falling, we eventually break. The effects can be devastating. Some of us give in to despair - we were doomed before the foundation of the world. Some to resentment - we were not given the gifts that others were given. We had to learn the hard way: We have no other choice but to trust God when He says, "My grace is sufficient for you."

I've been there.

I broke.

In a night of fervent prayer, God asked me, "Why don't you trust me?" I found that if I trusted God to still love me even when I stumble and fall, I actually did get better.

Keep striving for perfection. I hope you never break like I did. But if you do, I hope you'll remember the guy on CB with the funny Italian-sounding screen name, and remember this: Trust in God's love. In the end, we have nothing left to hang on to.

Hi, Lambano, if you would give me leave to speak a few words I would be honored…

This place you speak of, this place of breaking, if you would not mind me saying so, is the greatest of all places one could possibly be before God… This is the place of dying to one’s own will, where one as you stated He spoke to your heart where one has nothing left but to trust His love for one…

This is the place of dying before God, this place where by faith one’s sees that of a truth if it is not Christ living His life through one Christ’s life will not be manifested in one… This is the place of abandoning all hope but in God alone…

But entering into this place of no hope one soon discovers that it is in fact the place of all hope if one keeps their eyes on Jesus to live His life in and through, for He will never disappoint.,..

Be so very blessed in being in the greatest and safest place in all creation,,,, empty of self before God….


A fellow servant of His, Not me

 

[Lambano]

@Not me, I wish I could say it worked out that way - but it didn't. At least not yet.

 

[Wynona]

I understand where the lyricist is coming from.

The Bible exhorts us to strive towards eliminating sin (both sins of the flesh and more spiritual sins like pride), to strive to love God with all our heart, mind, and strength, and to strive to love our neighbors as ourselves. Sometime God empowers us to have victory over our sins. But for many, many people, He does not. Some of us have tried to be obedient - yet we keep struggling with the same old stuff. Besetting sins. Addictions. Coming to grips with the real demands of loving God with heart and soul, and loving our neighbors. Those of us who have tried to be perfect and keep falling, we eventually break. The effects can be devastating. Some of us give in to despair - we were doomed before the foundation of the world. Some to resentment - we were not given the gifts that others were given. We had to learn the hard way: We have no other choice but to trust God when He says, "My grace is sufficient for you."

I've been there.

I broke.

In a night of fervent prayer, God asked me, "Why don't you trust me?" I found that if I trusted God to still love me even when I stumble and fall, I actually did get better.

Keep striving for perfection. I hope you never break like I did. But if you do, I hope you'll remember the guy on CB with the funny Italian-sounding screen name, and remember this: Trust in God's love. In the end, we have nothing left to hang on to.

Lambano, I think perfection starts from the heart and flows outward. David had a heart for God. Not a perfect track record.

In Genesis 6:9 I believe it is said of Noah that he was perfect in his generation and that he walked with God.

Yet he got drunk off his own wine and his son had to come cover his nakedness.

I could be wrong but I think the perfection that God is looking for is a humble and contrite heart. A heart that trembles at His Word. A heart that recieves correction and turns from the evil that besets us.

Remember, I said God desires a perfect heart towards him. Not a perfect track record. In Ezekiel, it talks about the ones that turn from their sin and in that day, they will be saved.

The same day! Think about what couldve been going on yesterday.


When God tells us to be as little children, I think its the way they have humble hearts, receive correction, and have a sincere desire to please their Father.

If you tried over and over again and failed many times, I can understand the discouragement that would cause. But I hope you never get away from the sincere desire to please God that initially drove you because somewhere in there, I think, is a childlike faith.

 

[Lambano]

I could be wrong but I think the perfection that God is looking for is a humble and contrite heart. A heart that trembles at His Word. A heart that recieves correction and turns from the evil that besets us.

Remember, I said God desires a perfect heart towards him. Not a perfect track record. In Ezekiel, it talks about the ones that turn from their sin and in that day, they will be saved.

Except our hearts are part of the problem.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

 

[Not me]

@Not me, I wish I could say it worked out that way - but it didn't. At least not yet.

Maybe I misunderstood your meaning, but my statement holds true….

Be blessed in your relationship with our Lord….

A fellow believer, Not me

 

[Wynona]

Except our hearts are part of the problem.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

God promised to give us a new heart.

Ezekiel 36:26
King James Version

26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.


Plus, I was thinking about what you posted earlier. I just wanted to say, when shame and discouragement pile on like that, its from the enemy.

Conviction is over something specific that we can stop doing. But the devil wants guilt, shame, and condemnation to overcast our lives.

I know because Ive felt it piling up when I refused to forgive myself over a particular sin. But God had to remind me his mercies are new every morning. Every time we sincerely repent, we are made clean. Justified. We remember so much of what we did, that we don't put it under the blood of Jesus and we remain unforgiving of ourselves.

God forgives us fully, each and every time we repent. Each day really is a new day.

 

[Wynona]

I certainly haven't always had a perfect heart towards the Lord. Last night, I had to be corrected on some things. But today, I'm seeking, asking, knocking on God's door to get that perfect heart.

 

[marks]

I found that if I trusted God to still love me even when I stumble and fall, I actually did get better.

Exactly!!!!

Much love!

 

[marks]

Why has perfection gotten such a bad rap even amongst Christian circles?

I think its part of fallen human nature to resist being perfectly obedient to God.

Because trying to attain moral perfection through direct pursuit works against itself.

The word used in many of these places speaks of being complete, mature, fully formed, consumate.

"be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect", Jesus was specifically referring to God's love for all people as He without distinction gives all rain, and gives all sunshine, that all may eat. God does not just love those who love Him, but He loves all the same, and Jesus tells us to be that way, same as our Father, complete in our love for even our enemies.

When we start to think of ourselves in terms of our performance, we naturally start making judgments, and will see ourselves falling short, because generally speaking we can always find ways that we do in fact fall short.

And if we think that our shortfall, our remaining sin, if we see that as separating us from our Father, then we've stopped trusting in Jesus' death and reconciliation, and we've started trusting in our works, our performance. When then we see we have to improve our performance so we can be accepted by God, and we've fallen from Grace.

God says that grace is how we stand.

Knowing that we are fully reconciled to God, and that based on Jesus, not ourselves, knowing this is the faith in Jesus that gives us access to the grace in which we stand.

I've come to the conclusion that I am to leave my behavior to Christ Jesus to control, and that I can trust Him to work what is good in me.

I found that if I trusted God to still love me even when I stumble and fall, I actually did get better.

I find remaining in this mind causes me to remain walking in His Spirit. When I find I've slipped into works of flesh, I remember, God is with me here and now, and loves me like He has always loved me, and I am fully reconciled to Him in Jesus Christ. And I've learned to trust these truths, to trust that Jesus is true, that this is His work. And that fleshiness ends.

Our hearts are clean in Christ, we just need to sort out between flesh and spirit.

Much love!

 

[marks]

Except our hearts are part of the problem.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

That is the unregenerate heart, I think.

We are new creations, "Behold, old things are passed away, all is become new, now all is of God". Believing that is prerequisite to living it, I think. We really are completely new, and we really can live completely new lives. Sometimes it takes some getting used to.

Much love!

 

[Wynona]

When then we see we have to improve our performance so we can be accepted by God, and we've fallen from Grace.

Let's look at falling from grace closely.

Galatians 5:4
King James Version

4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

Paul was speaking of people trying to follow the law of Moses with circumcision.

But are all good works just attempts to be justified by the law?

Titus 3:8

8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

Good works are not attempts to rip the blood of Jesus away and insert ourselves as our savior. Ephesians says we are ordained to walk in them.

I've come to the conclusion that I am to leave my behavior to Christ Jesus to control, and that I can trust Him to work what is good in me.

I've been there and was taught this. But it didn't produce any fruit for me. Sin controlled me and all the resting in God's grace did not help me master it. I still do not know How Christ is supposed to work in us if we do not actively surrender our will and risk "working for salvation".

Popular teachers swear all day long that self-effort is the source of all kinds of spiritual problems. But the Bible suggests that we do work in tandem with God as we yield and submit ourselves to His Word.

The reason why sin is unacceptable to God is because He loves us and He says in his Word that it spreads from a tiny place to everywhere.

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

If we sin, we have an advocate with the Father who is right there when we repent. We don't need to hide from perfection because the solution for stumbling is already in place: confession and turning back to God with your whole heart.

 

[Wynona]

I never saw the fruit of the Spirit in my life really manifest until I got it into my mind, "Every sin must go."

I know that's not the popular teaching today. But it produced in me a life of wholeness and no longer feeling a need to hide from God.

I didn't get this idea from anyone. I got this when I learned to read the Bible for myself.

 

[marks]

When then we see we have to improve our performance so we can be accepted by God, and we've fallen from Grace.

Our acceptance by God is in Christ alone. When we look to our good works to be accepted by God, that is, "If I approve of my behavior now I know God receives me", or, "If I don't approve of my behavior I know God rejects me", when we think this way then we will rely on our ability to behave in ways we approve to maintain our standing with our Father.

When we rely exclusively on Jesus' death and resurrection, regardless of what we think of ourselves, then we are standing by faith, in grace.

This has nothing to do with the fact that God has an entire life planned for us, and that He intends for us to deny ourselves entirely, whatever we think, deny ourselves, and serve Him exclusively. The outcome of that will be a lifetime of good works, spiritual fruitfulness in others, and eternal reward. I think it's foolishness to disregard the eternal loss for ourselves and those we love when we serve ourselves, and what I fool I've been!

Much love!

 

[marks]

Popular teachers swear all day long that self-effort is the source of all kinds of spiritual problems. But the Bible suggests that we do work in tandem with God as we yield and submit ourselves to His Word.

The only self effort I'm talking about here is our self-effort to be accepted by God. Many people think that when they sin it takes them away from God, and they have to somehow "make it right", and "keep it right", "keep short lists", things like that. But nothing is further from the truth. Because we are forgiven in Christ.

God has His own ways of working in each of us, and I will never argue with you, who are bearing fruit, visible fruit. For me, the victory over sin was found in ceasing to fight, in that particular way. I've learned that the freedom from sin is in doing righteousness, not "not sinning", but that's how it works in my mind, my soul.

But please don't think that I think that we are to do anything less than live righteous and blameless lives.

Much love!

 

[marks]

But it produced in me a life of wholeness and no longer feeling a need to hide from God.

As I revisit this one more time . . . this is where I found the heart of living the life I dream. When I no longer felt I needed to hide. That is 100% the difference.

Much love!

 

[dev553344]

Well I'm not perfect and probably won't be in this life. I have mental problems that get in the way of perfection. I'm more like a malfunctioning computer.

 

[Wynona]

I've learned that the freedom from sin is in doing righteousness, not "not sinning", but that's how it works in my mind, my soul.

You've got something there. I think the Bible speaks of both but it sometimes serves us better to not focus on all the things we shouldn't do but what we should be doing.

 

[Wynona]

Our acceptance by God is in Christ alone. When we look to our good works to be accepted by God, that is, "If I approve of my behavior now I know God receives me", or, "If I don't approve of my behavior I know God rejects me", when we think this way then we will rely on our ability to behave in ways we approve to maintain our standing with our Father.

When we rely exclusively on Jesus' death and resurrection, regardless of what we think of ourselves, then we are standing by faith, in grace.

This has nothing to do with the fact that God has an entire life planned for us, and that He intends for us to deny ourselves entirely, whatever we think, deny ourselves, and serve Him exclusively. The outcome of that will be a lifetime of good works, spiritual fruitfulness in others, and eternal reward. I think it's foolishness to disregard the eternal loss for ourselves and those we love when we serve ourselves, and what I fool I've been!

Much love!

Jesus does remind me that I am justified because I have struggled to forgive myself in the past.

I think we can focus on two sides of the same coin. Both abiding in Jesus to produce fruit and obeying Him willfully are commanded in the Scriptures.

If you say that focusing on Jesus produces the fruit, than I won't disagree. That is Bible right there.