Perfection

Perfect.  What do you think of when you see that word, or hear it?  Most people think there’s only one definition for perfect.  Yes, it means flawless, without fault or defect, which is what most people think of when encountered with that word.  But did you know there’s another definition for perfect?  It also means complete, lacking in no essential detail.

Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”  (Matthew 5:48).  So, what did he mean by that?  As everybody knows, there is no such thing as a flawless human being.  There’s not one of us who is without fault or defect. 

What if Jesus meant for us to use the second definition?  How would that change your thinking about that verse?  Ernest Holmes wrote, “The indwelling Spirit within us is God.  As consciousness becomes aware of this, all conditions and situations, including the physical body, are lifted up, regenerated, born again.”

We’re made in the image and likeness of God.  (Genesis 1:26).  The nature of God is our nature.  If God is perfect, as Jesus said God was, and God dwells within us, doesn’t that mean we’re perfect also?  Not “flawless perfect” but “whole and complete perfect…not lacking any essential detail perfect.”   What God is, we are.   Striving for perfection is useless because such striving would imply that you’re not already perfect.  How can you be less than you already are? 

Striving also implies, if we share in God’s nature, and God is perfect, that God isn’t perfect, either.  An imperfect God?  Preposterous! 

The late Rev. Dr. David J. Walker wrote a terrific book called, “You Are Enough:  Always Have Been…Always Will Be.”  I highly recommend it.  In it, he writes, “If we don’t accept the fact that what we ARE is more important than what we DO, we will live a lifetime with the self-inflicted pressure to perform.”

I think it’s high time to take Jesus’s words to heart.  It’s time to be perfect, as Spirit within us is perfect.  How do we do that?  By taking time to remember that we’re made in the image and likeness of God, that we share God’s nature.  We do it by embodying the knowledge that we don’t lack anything, that we’re whole and complete just as we are.  We do it by not listening when someone tries to tell us that we’re “less than,” that we’re unworthy of the best life has to offer.  We do it by remembering that we are enough. 

When we remember our perfection, we’ll see what Ernest Holmes was talking about.  Our lives will reflect that perfection.  All our conditions and situations will be “lifted up, regenerated, born again.”  What a great way to live!

Much love and many blessings,

Rev. Jeff

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