The problem of perfection

The problem of perfection

If only he hadn’t said it. “You must be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect”.

I manage to be a good person quite easily. As I have lived a comfortable life and am blessed with quite a gentle, kind personality, I might even say that, on the whole, I am a very good person. Yet Jesus said the goal was perfection. This clearly is not possible, and it bothers me – not least because I don’t like to suggest that Jesus made a mistake. Moreover, in my moments of spiritual awareness of God, I really do feel so filled with his grace that I do feel that this must be what perfection is like. But, of course, it doesn’t last. We are physical creatures, with a whole load of evolved behaviours, not to say personal weaknesses, and then we feel disappointed that the glimpse of perfect harmony with God has been lost.

I think I will be returning to this problem quite often. I do want to explore what is or isn’t possible, and I don’t want to lay burdens on anyone by opening up the possibility of perfection, only to have people feel bad about themselves that they weren’t able to achieve it. There are many puzzles in the life of faith, and one of them is that we are called to live in communion with God, to keep in step with the Spirit, while being totally dependent on grace to achieve anything. We have received a command to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength – but we can do nothing without his grace.

Many of us feel that we go round an endless cycle of sin – repentance – forgiveness – grace – growth – failure. I want the goal of harmony with God to be an inspiring positive force in my life, and I don’t want to hurt anyone by suggesting that the failure to be perfect is a cause for self-condemnation, let alone despair. Yet the call is to live our lives in union with the God of love. This is so far beyond me, but, if you will bear with me, I will return to it from time to time and see what I can make of it.

I expect that the answer to the call to perfection will be grace. And always and always, I return to God’s grace as the life-imparting essence of God. His undeserved loving-kindness is what makes us whole. Yet what does God require of us in response? I am both inspired and wounded by the call to perfection. Perhaps in our flawed responses to God’s love, which are in literal terms ending in a failure to be perfect, there will be moments when his grace shines through. In particular situations, we find ourselves ministering God’s grace to others, and perhaps in those moments, his love is reflected in our faces, and God looks at us and says, “That will do”.