Perfection

A man became envious of his friends because they had larger and more luxurious homes. So, he listed his house with a real estate firm, planning to sell it and to purchase a more impressive home. Shortly afterward, as he was reading the classified section of the newspaper, he saw an ad for a house that seemed just right. He promptly called the realtor and said, “A house described in today’s paper is exactly what I’m looking for. I would like to go through it as soon as possible!” The agent asked him several questions about it and then replied, “But sir, that’s your house you’re describing.” (http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/c/contentment.htm, accessed 1/19/2022, original source unknown).

It’s wintertime. It feels like winter most days. Remember Christmas weekend? In our area, it REALLY felt like winter! We all long for warmer weather in cold weather. It has also been rainy. When it is rainy, we long for dry weather. Do you remember when the temperatures were hot? We longed for winter. Sometimes, when it is dry, we long for rain. It seems like we are never satisfied.

My bride says I am never fully satisfied. It seems I always push toward the next improvement or achievement, whether in our church or in my personal life. As I thought about life this week, I had to admit that other than satisfaction with my wife and family, I have always looked forward toward the elusive goal of perfection, although it is unattainable. I suppose it is just in my nature. Can you relate?

It seems human nature keeps us longing for something. I personally believe, as do others, that we seek to be fulfilled and to feel peace. Work, toil, disappointments, and frustrations, no matter how great our situations, jobs, and income may be, always seem to keep us looking for something better. No matter how much we succeed, how many accolades we receive, or even how much income we have, there is always that next thing to do or get.  We humans are a very unsatisfied group.

We look for rest and peace, but we look for it in the wrong things. Even subconsciously, we seem to long for a time and place of perfection. The Bible tells us about a blessed rest. It tells us about peace with God and peace with others. It gives us a glimpse of a former Eden and the promise of a future one in which all things are made perfect again. The original Eden was a preview of a time and place when all the imperfections, struggles, and frustrations will end forever. This seems always beyond our reach. One day, though, there will be a newness like we have never seen (Read Revelation 21:1-22:6).

There is perfection, but we just cannot get to it yet. Life will be perfect if we find ourselves free from the presence of imperfection. In that place, nothing negative can occur. Think about it. Heaven cannot be perfect if anything imperfect enters it. That gives me great hope. What a thing to which we can look forward! God has a place in store for us which is perfect, in which nothing imperfect exists. Amazing! Sign me up! No worries, pain, sorrow, regret, or frustrations. A place where we will feel fully fulfilled without any unfulfillment or unfulfilled potential. We will experience perfect rest and perfect peace…finally.

So…if there is a place created perfectly…if there is a place where nothing but things that are perfect exist and nothing that is not perfect will be allowed in…why would I ever be allowed in? I mean, I know how imperfect I am. If you are like me, you realize how hopeless this really could be for us imperfect people, of which we are all.

That is the beauty of this truth. We are hardwired knowing there is more than our lives of frustration and imperfection. Somehow, we all know there must be more. Perhaps that is why we always look forward to “bigger and better” than what we experience in the “here and now.” Again, though, why would an imperfect person like me be allowed into a perfect place. I would taint it. I would ruin it. I simply should not be allowed to go in.

That is the beauty of Jesus. God came in the form of a man. This man, while still God, offers to exchange our imperfections for his perfection so we would be found clean and admissible into the very presence of God in Heaven. Do you know Him? I sure hope so.

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