Perfect – Are You a Perfect Person?

By CBM National intern, Paul Daly – 

Are you a perfect person? What about your life, is that perfect, too? Do you live in a perfect house with a perfect family that you are supporting with your perfect job? I hope the answers to these questions are obvious: NO. Nothing is totally perfect.

“Imperfection” really bothers me. In fact, I had a clever blog post all written out for you before this one, but the topic was sticky, the post was long, and my sentences didn’t make sense, so I scrapped it and wrote about something else. The post didn’t seem “perfect enough.” As a National Intern, teaching Released Time for CBM of SWPA was very difficult because I didn’t feel like I was doing the “perfect” job. I always knew I had missed something or could have said something better or  done something differently. I got so bothered by my imperfect teaching that I realized I was sinning because I was not trusting God. This blog post may not be perfect either. But here is something God has laid on my heart while being a part of the CBM National Internship.

Something becomes imperfect whenever there is a flaw in it. I don’t like flaws, and I can imagine that you don’t either. We don’t like it when we make a mistake. We don’t like it when a tragedy happens.  We don’t like it when our beat-up house is disturbing our crazy family and we can’t fix it because our boring job doesn’t pay enough.

Since we are made in the image of a flawless God (Gen. 1:26), it is natural for you and me to want perfection. It’s in our being. We have a God-sized longing to be perfect. Jesus even commands us to be perfect in Matthew 5:48. But there’s a problem.

The thing that hinders us from the perfection we so desire is sin. We all sin, and sin is part of our nature (Ecc. 7:20). Sin cannot remove the desire to be perfect. However, it can lie to us to make us think that perfection equals happiness, or that perfection is confidence,  skill, freedom, or success. Every time we commit a sin, it’s because we are looking for perfection the wrong way in the wrong place. It distracts us from true, godly perfection (Rom.7:18).

Nevertheless, regardless of how imperfect we are, I can 100% guarantee you that there is a perfect Savior who loves us unconditionally (Rom. 5:8).

Jesus was perfect, but He still had to deal with many imperfect people and circumstances. He dealt with a lot of temptations (Heb. 4:15), conflicts, and hardships. And He was certainly not having what we would consider the perfect day when He was crucified. At that moment, He temporarily gave up His own perfection to bear our sin (2 Cor. 5:21).

Allow me to offer a challenge to you that I have taken on myself. Never again say, “Jesus died on a cross.” Instead, tell your family, friends, students, and neighbors that, “Jesus died on MY cross.”

We deserved to be hung naked, bleeding and suffering on that cross. We deserved to be buried in that tomb and go to hell while our body rotted and we were doomed never to return back to Earth.

However, Jesus took responsibility for our sin and paid it in full. Three days later, He walked out of the tomb and left our sin in Hell so that we can be forgiven. And you know what? Jesus is still alive, and He’s still perfect because the sins He bore for us have been destroyed.

The Bible tells us that the Father gives Christians the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God, all-powerful, all-wise, all-knowing, and all-perfect. (John 14:15-17).

Our  flesh will still fail, and our life will still be flawed, but when we submit to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to use, work through, counsel, and grow us, we will taste true perfection (Psalm 34:8). Perfection doesn’t give us happiness, it gives us joy. It doesn’t give us confidence, it gives us faith. It’s not skill, freedom, or success; it’s love, forgiveness, and glory (Matt. 5:6).

Do you want to be perfect? That’s too bad because it’s not happening this side of death. Do you want to know what perfection is like? Know God.

“Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”

2 Corinthians 7:1 ESV

Edited by: CBM National

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