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My Wild Dreams

Life & Events > Relationships > Can We Be Perfect?
 

Can We Be Perfect?

The preacher spent his whole sermon relating the evils of sin and how all men are sinners with no exceptions. At the end of the sermon he asked rhetorically, "Now does anyone here think they are without sin?" He had only to wait a few seconds before a man in the back pew stood up.
The preacher asked the man who had the audacity to stand after such a fiery sermon, "Sir, do you really think you are completely without sin?"
The man quickly answered, "No sir, I’m not standing up for myself. I’m standing up for my wife’s 1st husband."
That's a familiar story, isn't it?  People often compare individuals to others to whom they have assigned the status of perfection.
At this point, a woman asked, "But is it wrong for us to say ’I’m only human…?"

People who use that phrase are basically saying: "I know I’ve done wrong, but I have an excuse. I couldn’t really help myself, because I was only doing what humans do. It’s just a different way of saying "I’m without sin. It isn’t my fault."
People don’t like to admit that they are wrong. They are the heroes and heroines of their own stories. They can’t be the villains, so they will find any excuse to cover their faults. That’s why Jeremiah 17:9 tells us "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure…."
Vince Lombardi once said: "Perfection is not attainable; but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence." Someone else once said: "If you aim at nothing, that’s just what you’ll hit - nothing."
It's in the striving that we can hope to attain perfection.  We know we won't.  John tells us that in 1 John 1-8.
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 
 
Here's another example:  If you ask a person why he doesn't go to church, he will almost always say because the church is full of hypocrites.

He is basically saying: "I expect Christians to be sinless… and since they aren’t, Christianity can’t possibly be valid."
That individual has become embroiled in this same false thinking and it gives him the excuse he is looking for to avoid coming to Christ.

 I think that I shall never see
A church that’s all that it should be;
A church whose members never stray
Beyond the straight and narrow way;
A church that has no empty pews
Whose preacher never has the blues;
A church whose deacons always deek
And none are proud and all are meek.
Where gossips never peddle lies
Or make complaints or criticize;
Where all are always sweet and kind
And all to other’s faults are blind;
Such perfect churches there may be
But none of them is known to me
But still I’ll work and pray and plan
To make our own the best I can.

So, if we, as Christians can’t hope to reach sinless perfection and churches can’t be expected to be sinless… then why bother?

How many of you have ever skated? Have you ever fallen down? When you first learned to skate, how often did you fall down? (Answer: a lot). Have you ever watched an Olympic skater? Have you ever seen them fall down? (Answer: of course). But they fall down less often than they did when they first learned to skate.

That is all we can hope for...to mature and fall down less and less often.




posted on Feb 10, 2011 8:00 PM ()

Comments:

It isn't I who assign total control to God. It is what I hear from many of the faithful who often invoke that tired "God works in wondrous ways his miracles to perform," when asked to explain the horrors of life we encounter.
comment by tealstar on Feb 12, 2011 4:47 AM ()
they also blamed the gays for all the storms that we have been having.
they are all wacko.that is why I stay out of the church.they are nuts.
Lost my faith in them.Minster and Priest.
comment by fredo on Feb 11, 2011 11:41 AM ()
I can't speak for the Catholics, since I know very little about their faith. I can say that no one in my faith blamed gays for the weather. I have to agree, that is wacko.
reply by redimpala on Feb 11, 2011 4:56 PM ()
Sorry Red, have to disagree. What was his plan for Haiti? That they pay for their "sins"?
comment by tealstar on Feb 11, 2011 10:59 AM ()
Teal, you are trying to justify your position by assigning to God control over every catastrophic event that occurs. God created the world, placed man in it, and gave him a perfect world with only one restriction. He gave man free will to obey or disobey. It is man's disobedience that brought evil and heartache into the world....not God.
reply by redimpala on Feb 11, 2011 4:55 PM ()
Don't strive for perfection, forgive myself a reasonable amount of the time. Don't believe there is divine perfection either, in other words if there is a God, he is so very far from perfect that I would feel comfortable in his presence.
comment by tealstar on Feb 11, 2011 6:41 AM ()
Teal, I know that you are a non-believer. You have your rationale for that. I have to add, however, that it is not God who is imperfect...but man.
reply by redimpala on Feb 11, 2011 7:24 AM ()
Besides saying "I'm only human", many imply "the devil made me do it".
Church-going "hypocrites" is perhaps a valid accusation, but a poor excuse for not attending. You know my reason for staying home!
comment by solitaire on Feb 11, 2011 5:45 AM ()
I do, and that is your decision. I respect your reasons; this is really addressed to those who say they are believers; but find every excuse to justify their shortcomings.
reply by redimpala on Feb 11, 2011 7:22 AM ()
I dont know about anyone else here but I myself have been berated for apologizing all the time when I've being wrong....lol...the madness from some at the other place.
comment by aussiegirl on Feb 11, 2011 1:04 AM ()
It's really easy to love our friends; but to love our enemies...that's another matter! Hard for all of us to do. After all, why would we want to love someone who wants to hurt us? Sometimes I succeed; sometimes I fail at this.
reply by redimpala on Feb 11, 2011 5:02 AM ()
Your message is one for everyone.
comment by marta on Feb 10, 2011 10:11 PM ()
reply by redimpala on Feb 11, 2011 5:09 AM ()
I'm perfect--even when I am wrong I am perfectly wrong--perfection is a burden!
comment by greatmartin on Feb 10, 2011 8:26 PM ()
That's me!! Perfectly wrong!! Perfection in everything!
reply by redimpala on Feb 11, 2011 5:10 AM ()

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