I can’t expect to be perfect.

“Perfect,” after all, is a matter of opinion.

A perfect day, weather-wise, is subjective according to different people’s health, plans, needs, and personalities.

A perfect hair day is equally subjective. Probably more than ¾ of the eyes that see your hair today probably wont even notice it’s perfection (or lack thereof) anyway cause they are wondering about their own hair.

A perfect outfit. Subjective. Not everyone likes the look of heels and oversized sweaters or converse with ripped jeans. If your honest with yourself, the perfect outfit is mostly determined by your mood and the event your attending. Let’s be real. The perfect outfit is definitely a matter of perspective.

A perfect meal. In a child’s definition that would be something greasy, unhealthy, but happy, like French fries and a burger and the guarantee of a few minutes to burn energy in the play park after. An adult’s definition would be something more along the lines of a quinoa salad with fresh veggies and hummus and gluten-free toast with the guarantee of no stomachache after.

A perfect body. Subjective. Generational, gender, cultural and societal trends all play “piggie in the middle” with this one.

A perfect grade. Now here we narrow the playing field. If the teacher or prof has a set standard to mark their tests and assignments by, then there is some objectivity. But even still, the value is placed on how well you performed on that specific assessment. What if you memorized your entire textbook, could spout of the dates and details of historic battles and concoct steller thesis’ for fun when your in the shower every day, yet when the final paper is due, unforeseen circumstances leave you with three hours till the submission deadline and, either a broken heart or a body wracking in pain or a loved one never to be seen again and there you have it…a C. Did that paper accurately assess your understanding of this course? No. Your grade could have been, should have been, perfect. If life was perfect. Which it isn’t. And that’s the whole point.

Perfect is subjective. It is ringed round by ideally aligned circumstances which, if even shifted a micro-millimeter off balance, it all goes to pot, as my mother would say.

Perfect is situationally dependent.

Did I add that perfect is exhausting?

You’ve felt it.

On those “can’t tame these curls” days, and those “I said the wrong thing, but I’m too proud to admit it” days, and those “I can’t find a thing to wear,” days and those “I didn’t make the grade…didn’t mop the floor…didn’t make the phone call…didn’t think twice” days?

Too much “perfect” seeking leaves you wanting to quit.

Wanting to do something drastic.

Escape. Ignore. Maybe try harder. One more push!

 

Jesus.

The Perfect One.

When he walked along the streets of small-town Israel, he called the imperfect his best friends, his world changers, the ones who didn’t have it all together.

Jesus wasn’t big on appearances. He actually critiqued pretty harshly those who strove to “appear” perfect.

It’s not that Jesus’ standard of perfect was low, or subjectively shaped by the culture around him or his upbringing etc.

It was that his standard of perfect was Himself.

He was the divine, sinless Son of God.

And as the Perfect One he didn’t even own a perfect house that was perfectly clean.

I highly doubt he sought perfection in his closet every morning.

I don’t think he had a closet.

Apparently a stunningly perfect physical appearance wasn’t his forte either.

His idea of a perfect meal was sitting on the grass with 5,000 unexpected guests and not enough food that became enough and the goal at the end was for everyone to leave full, not for everyone to leave seeking to one-up that meal at the next gathering. Jesus really wasn’t one-Up-able anyway.

Jesus must have had perfect grades. I mean, he existed before the world, before knowledge was even a thing. But we don’t hear much about it. Except maybe once in the temple when he was twelve when he blew the teachers out of the water with his know-how.

But remember how his teaching came across?

Parables. Mystery enshrouded principles of an unseen kingdom.

Highly subjective.

A bit hard to grade objectively.

It kind of depended if you were ready and willing to hear it.

“He who has ears, let him hear.”

Relationally, I’d say Jesus was perfect.

Well…except for when he called his best friend, “Satan,” and told him to get behind him. And he let one of his close friends die even when his sisters asked him to come and heal and he could have, but he didn’t. Till later. And he rebuked his disciples for having little faith…a lot. And he tossed a few tables and drove merchants out of the temple with a whip once…didn’t do much for his popularity scores, or his “Perfect Messiah” scores. He offended people right, left and center.

Maybe not so perfect. According to our standards. Subjective.

So here we have it.

A divine, perfect Son of God who didn’t meet all the standards we set for perfection in our daily lives, yet he was the only truly Perfect One.

Why?

Because perfect isn’t found in shiny taps, organized closets, hairspray bottles, bank accounts, GPA’s, squeaky clean marriages, gym memberships, flawless family dinners, drama-free relationships or that artsy beach-wood window pane you can’t seem to imitate from instagram…

Here’s the point. We can’t reach the world’s varying standard of perfection. It’s impossible. We also can’t reach Jesus’ divine standard of perfection on our own. It’s impossible.

So we give up.

 

Wouldn’t that be nice? To stop keeping up appearances, to stop trying to control it all, to say and do the right thing?

 

Here’s what Jesus did that changed all this striving for perfect business.

He came, perfect. From birth.

He lived, perfect. (remember, not according to our standards, but a Higher standard)

He died, perfect.

He rose again, perfect.

And when he died he took all our imperfect on his perfect and his perfect overwhelmed our imperfect and then our imperfect died and His perfect overcame.

We’re talking about more than a spotless toilet bowl now.

We are talking about eternal things. The things that matter beyond this week and this year and this life. We are talking about the part of you that will live on forever, long after the doctors shake their heads and your eulogy has been read.

Imagine this.

Your soul, perfect.

Your standing before God, perfect.

Your sins, your messy life, your mistakes and heartache and accidents and self-loathing and bitterness and judgementalism and negativity and lust and poor choices and pride and unforgiveness and greed and gossip and disobedience and defiance and anger and violence and arrogance and infidelity and envy and lies and stubborn willful independence….

All your depravity…

All your sin….

All that imperfection, which is judged by God to be imperfect and that deep down in your image-of-God self you know is imperfect…

That imperfection

REVERSED.

Overcome. By PERFECT.

True perfect.

It’s the forever perfect too.

Not just until you mess up again type of perfect, like when you spill your perfect coffee on your perfect outfit and then it’s all gone to pot again.

No.

This is a forever perfect.

I can’t expect to be perfect if I’m not one with the Perfect One.

Scrubbed floors are nice to have. So is peace with your brother and honour for your employer and an A+ on your final exam.

But here’s the catch.

If you strive for perfection in those things, in this temporary, situationally dependent world on your temporary strength, you are going to wear out.

But if you walk this life with the Perfect One

Who made you perfect eternally,

your motivation in this life changes.

Your not doing it all to keep up appearances, to impress others or satiate the ravenous need inside of you to be acknowledged.

Leaving that behind….that’s restful.

And He’ll rub off on you, the more you are around Him.

And you’ll do things like empty the dishwasher for your roommate or write an encouragement note to your co-worker or hug your dad because He is rubbing off on you. His love for people. His heart to serve. His heart to bless. His version of perfection…rubbing off on you.

And you’ll put on clothes in the morning and walk out the door confident because He sets the standard and says you look good.

You see?

It’s all upside down and inside out.

Perfect isn’t the goal anymore.

He is.

The Perfect One.

And that’s the perfect place

To be.

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,

and all these things shall be added to you.

Matthew 6: 33