By Isn’t it ironic how we are all searching for that “perfect person” and at the same time declaring over our lives and the lives of the ones we love that perfection does not exist? It’s like we know we aren’t perfect and never will be – that humans aren’t perfect and never will be – but we have this desire for perfection anyway.
Your innate desire for perfection is your soul’s longing for Jesus because…
“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love… he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities… As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:8,10,13-14).
Imagine for a moment if this was talking about human. A person who loves you unconditionally – who wouldn’t want to love them back? A person who is forgiving and doesn’t get easily angered or upset with you – who wouldn’t want to be around them all the time? A person who is kind, caring, and loving without fail, all the time – who wouldn’t trust them and, in return, respect them? I know I would.
I desire to be loved and cared for unconditionally, to be met with grace and understanding, to resolve conflict quickly and show forgiveness and have it shown back to me. We long for this perfection, but we seek it in the wrong things, especially when we seek it in our human relationships. Because the truth is, this passage isn’t talking about a human. You will never find a person who is all these wonderful things, all the time. And if you’ve tried for awhile, I’m sure you’ve realized doing so only leaves you extremely disappointed, irritated, and annoyed. OF COURSE, people can do their best to be loving, kind, considerate, gracious, and forgiving, and we all should! But finding perfection, experiencing this all the time, that just isn’t going to happen with another human. And that’s ok!
Our desire for perfection is our soul’s desire for Jesus.
These verses are speaking about the One, heavenly God who is so perfect in all his ways, in how he loves, and is accessible to every single person who calls on the name of Jesus to be saved. Our imperfection is not a surprise to Jesus; therefore, our mistakes, shortcomings, and sins don’t come as a shock to him either. He loves us anyway.
There is a line in a song by one of my favorite Christian rappers – NF – that says, “Some people say nobody’s perfect but expect perfection.” You aren’t perfect. I’m not perfect. The person you’re dating isn’t perfect. The perfect picture you have in your head of how your future wife will be – hate to break it to you, but she doesn’t exist. We need to stop expecting perfection from earthly relationships.
We have access to the only perfect relationship we will ever get to experience in this lifetime, and that is with Jesus. Yet, so many of us don’t treat it as special and spectacular as I think we would if it were another human like you or me.
I’m not saying this to make us feel guilty but to challenge us to see what we have right in front of us – a perfect relationship with someone who loves us so much, imperfections and all, and who longs for us to love him back with everything we have inside of us. Not because we have to but because who wouldn’t want to? He’s perfect.
Photo by Banter Snaps on Unsplash
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