On Striving for Perfection

     As humans we all strive.  We strive for peace.  We strive for prosperity.  We strive to be better.  We strive to love better.

     We strive for perfection.

     This striving is eternal, and no matter what we do, nothing can satisfy it except for faith.  Faith that Christ has saved us.  Faith that God sent him to do so.  And Faith that we are totally righteous in his sight if we accept his gift of righteousness through salvation.

     This faith however does not come easily.

     No matter what, we have a longing for perfection, that without Christ, will never be fulfilled.  Often we care more about outword appearances that those inside, and because of this, our inside begins to rot.

     We are like fruit, never to be read by our outward appearances, because too often the fruit which looks lovely on the outside, is deadly poisonous on the inside.

 
     I have found this to be so true with friends.  Especially those whom we seem to get along with so well, and yet when something goes wrong, trust fails, and the friendship falls apart.  Yet on the other hand, there are those who you think you would never become as close friends with because of some prior notion or pre-judgement, and the next thing you know, they are continually by your side.

     Laughing. Talking. Caring. Loving.

     Still, we believe all the lies told to us: lies about perfection, and meaningless objects making us greater.  We cast out what we have and chase after those things: things that will only make us hunger more for meaning in meaningless things.

     Paul points out in his letter to the Phillipians that, "Not that I have already obtained this [perfection]... but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own."

     Switchfoot, one of my favoritest (yes, favoritest) bands ever has a song called Blinding Light, which like all of their songs, is so encouraging.  Blinding Light, however, speaks to this generation: the generation being told all the lies about perfection and meaning.

     Here is Blinding Light.  Below, you can find a bit of the lyrics.

Hey girl, be yourself now

Don't believe what they told you to

Hey girl, be yourself now

Your skin's more than a pin-up suit

Hey girl, don't conform now

No one else's got soul like you

Hey girl, you're a strong one

But none of us are bulletproof

Yeah

Deep down there's a hope inside

You got wings but you're scared to fly

Wake up, wake up

     We don't have to judge people from their outside; We don't have to judge ourselves either.  Instead, we must choose where we want perfection, and Strive for the inside beauty God has given each and every human.  A perfection which cannot be taken away.

Attribution:

Image 1 // Image 2 // Image 3 // Blinding Light Lyrics found on AZ lyrics // Bible verses found on esvbible.org

This post was originally published on Adventures and Such, and can also be found on A Hand in Hand