Surrendering Perfection

Three years later I still marvel at the fact that I work for a church.  I often wonder if God has experienced a serious lapse in judgement.  I do not fit the mold of what one might expect.  I am messy and often unfiltered. My life story is more like the woman at the well than what one might expect or even prefer of church staff. I am not steeped in church polity or policy or politics, and most of the time I do not understand the difference between the three.

I have struggle for far more years than I care to count with the idea that Christians are called to some level of perfection that seems unattainable. How do we reconcile the concept of a God who is Love with the idea that He expects us to be perfect and that we might really be "left behind" if we cannot attain it.  After all, we have been taught that Jesus, who I totally believe was fully God and fully human said these words "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48, NIV) What exactly does someone like me do with that??  I've made some dumb mistakes, survived some poor choices, and I still mess up on the regular.  Be PERFECT?? REALLY??

For several years now my answer has been to accept the reality of God as I have experienced Him. His grace has been sufficient in more ways than I can count.  I have experienced peace that I do not deserve, and He has come through for me in ways I could never have asked or predicted.  My journey has been colorful, yet filled with hope and renewal.  I have discovered great joy in embracing the idea that I merely have to be who He created me to be and I have grown increasingly passionate about helping others learn to embrace this same truth, to discover how our gifts and character play into God's story.  Really, this has been a result of the journey, of prayer and experience, of learning to recognize God in the daily grind, not from extensive study of scripture.

Currently I am taking a class on the Sermon On The Mount, Jesus famous sermon during which He made that statement.  It's a classic Bible story.  Many of us heard it in Sunday school and grew up with certain expectations as a result of it.  Last week our professor pointed out that in the original Greek text Jesus used the word telios, meaning complete or whole.  All I could think was are you kidding me??  All of this time it was "be complete"??  Now I am no great scholar, but this is a real game changer.  Be complete.  This is a whole different statement in our culture than "be perfect". This is a concept I can get behind.  I can wrap my brain around the idea that the One who created me desires to continually work to complete what He started in me. I can invest myself and strive to become all that He made me to be.  When I think of how I have experienced God in my own journey and how he is constantly transforming me and how my understanding of Him and His people has grown and evolved, I can embrace the idea of becoming complete.  

The truth is that I surrendered the idea of perfection 15 years ago when my first marriage ended.  I spent the next several years wrestling with the powerful realization that perfect was impossible and that somehow God has been faithful, regardless.  Last week as I embraced this new phrase, be complete, I felt lighter, more confident, even loved, and yet incredibly humbled.  I even shared this with others and took notice as their faces changed and even their posture as I spoke the words be complete.  So, Be complete, friends.  Surrender perfection and embrace the grace that invites you to become all that you were created to be. I want to invite you to find contentment in the process and to rest.  Rest and breathe and allow yourself to embrace grace.  Be complete friends, as your Father in heaven is complete.