Nobody's Perfect

"Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Not that people will see that we have stood the test but that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is for your perfection. This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down." 2 Corinthians 13:5-10

To finish the week, I want to focus on one phrase:  "Our prayer is for your perfection."  How is perfection possible while we are sinners, living in a sinful world?

First, we have to understand the root of the word in Greek.  I'll wait we all take a quick Rosetta Stone class in the Greek language.  ....... OK, let's just use a commentary.  According to biblegateway.com, "The basic meaning of the noun katartisis is to 'make suitable or fitting' for a particular task, not to 'make perfect.'"   

Striving for perfection, and being perfected, indicate a process.  Christian perfection is really this:  we are weak and sinful.  God is perfect.  As He works and moves in our lives, and makes us more like Him, we become perfected (changed, moved, different).  In 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, Paul writes, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

In other words, the weaker we are, the more perfect He can make us!    God perfecting us is about Him, not about us.  It's not about all we can do and achieve.  It's about how much He can do with us when we are willing.  We are most willing, I think, in our weakness, not our strength.

It's not that we are trying to be Him.  We are trying to be like Him.  In Philippians 13:12 we read, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."  This whole life process is about us (little, ant-like humans) taking His hand (ginormous, King-of-the-Universe) and being led where He takes us.  Becoming one with Him.  Taking on His qualities.  Becoming perfected.

I want to be made suitable.  I want to learn what I need to learn from Him so that I'm ready for what He wants me to take on next.  That's all perfection is.  It's letting Him, and letting go.