That biblical word...
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That biblical word "perfection" has puzzled me. When I think of perfection, I think of a perfectly polished auto body or a precisely painted wall in a house or a polished piece of wood furniture. But when I went to the mountains on a retreat a few years ago, I sat and looked out a viewing window and saw the rugged mountain peaks and the valleys full of trees. I thought it was a "perfect" view. But then it occurred to me that those peaks were uneven and jagged. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason. The trees were also random and each tree was different, although I could tell if it were an oak or a pine. It did not conform to my idea of "perfection" in human terms.
So God must have a totally different idea of perfection than I have. We like to draw precise "perfect" lines, but where would you draw a precise line to separate the valley from the mountain. There was no doubt that there was a mountain and it was obvious that there was a valley, but there was no way to separate them on a precise perfect line. God's idea of "perfection" must be totally different than mine.
No two leaves were alike, but they obviously belonged to the same tree where they came from.
We humans are also very different. There are books on medicine and psychology, but they are very general. Like the mountain and the valley the difference was obvious, but the uniqueness of each was also obvious. But we are still commanded to be of one mind.
That was a lesson we must never forget. In our striving for perfection, we must keep in mind God's idea of perfection and not try to make all God's people look and act identically. Paul tells us that some will be prophets and some will be teachers and so forth. We are each parts of a body -- which is Christ's body. Our perfection means we fit perfectly into God's master plan.
So God must have a totally different idea of perfection than I have. We like to draw precise "perfect" lines, but where would you draw a precise line to separate the valley from the mountain. There was no doubt that there was a mountain and it was obvious that there was a valley, but there was no way to separate them on a precise perfect line. God's idea of "perfection" must be totally different than mine.
No two leaves were alike, but they obviously belonged to the same tree where they came from.
We humans are also very different. There are books on medicine and psychology, but they are very general. Like the mountain and the valley the difference was obvious, but the uniqueness of each was also obvious. But we are still commanded to be of one mind.
That was a lesson we must never forget. In our striving for perfection, we must keep in mind God's idea of perfection and not try to make all God's people look and act identically. Paul tells us that some will be prophets and some will be teachers and so forth. We are each parts of a body -- which is Christ's body. Our perfection means we fit perfectly into God's master plan.
