{"id":588,"date":"2022-04-09T02:54:22","date_gmt":"2022-04-09T02:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rythmicchimney.org\/staging\/2056\/?p=588"},"modified":"2022-04-09T02:54:28","modified_gmt":"2022-04-09T02:54:28","slug":"perfection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rythmicchimney.org\/staging\/2056\/perfection\/","title":{"rendered":"Perfection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Matt.5:48 <\/strong>Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Precher’s text was “Perfection”. “Is there anyone here today who feels that he or she is a perfect person? Anyone who feels that there is no room for improvement in your life? If you are here this morning and feel that you have reached perfection, please stand.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A little man near the back of the church slowly rose to his feet. There, he stood with bowed head grasping his worn gray fedora. Hearing the slight rustle in the back of the church, the congregation turned to see what had prompted the overly long pause in the preacher’s discourse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sir, do you mean to tell me that you are a perfect person?”, demanded the disconcerted preacher. He had not expected such a self-righteous response from anyone in his congregation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Oh, no sir,” quickly responded the man. “I am standing in honor of my wife’s first husband.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I heard this story some years ago and I can certainly relate to the hero. I expect that the closest I will ever come to perfection is being able to stand in honor of someone else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can see examples of perfection every way you look. Social media, especially, can make you feel very humble and inadequate when you see so many who are busy with their perfect lives, going on their perfect vacations with their perfect families, and living from one exciting day to another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you desire to gain this state of perfection for yourself, you can find countless avenues for achieving it. Television, internet, magazine articles, and innumerable books are available on the subject. Each has a different never-fail recipe for reaching perfection. All you have to do is follow the directions. Even so, somewhere in the process of mixing the ingredients, I mess up and the perfect 10 turns into a 3 or less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same can be true in Christian living. I see some pretty good samples of perfection all around. People who really have it together. They know exactly where they are and where they are going in their Christian lives. I admire those folks. Many of them have a cut and dried recipe that has straightened out their lives and allowed them to reach this level of Christlikeness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this has not been my personal experience. My life has gone up and down a lot of hills and around a lot of curves. I thank God for the days when I know where I am and exactly where I am headed. Even so, much of the time I am saying, “Lord, I hope this is the right direction. About here I sure do need you to turn on the light and show me where I am.” Usually, when I have become totally disoriented and have decided that I have completely lost my way, then He shows me that He has been directing my path all the time and all my worry was for nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever noticed how Satan manipulates your perception of a situation to meet his own ends? John R.W. Scott wrote, “Satan, when tempting someone, says that sin isn’t very bad, isn’t very big, and isn’t very important. But after the person has yielded to temptation and sinned, and has begun to think about asking God’s forgiveness, then Satan reverses his field. And to his victim Satan declares that the sin is so big, so bad, and so awful that asking forgiveness will hardly suffice.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Satan does not tell us is that if we depended on our own righteousness we would be lost without a hope. I once read that the brightest light ever created by man is the arc light. If you hold that light up between you and the sun, the light becomes a black spot. That is how our righteousness compares with the righteousness of God. The very best we can do is an unacceptable, repulsive thing. Isaiah 12:1 says, But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, what hope do we have? None! No way can this repulsive, sinful creature ever become acceptable to an almighty God who accepts nothing less than perfection. But God in his infinite mercy, has provided a way. That way is Christ. 1 John 1:9 promises, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” <\/em> The only way to reach perfection is through Christ!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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