Christian Perfection

What does it really mean to strive for excellence? Perfection?

Yesterday morning I started off with breakfast with some newer friends.  This group I have been organizing is a collection of former award winners of the Profiles in Power Award, and its amazing to be in the presence of these ladies.  So strong and know right where they are going.  Each month I try to get a question to use for the group and we talked about a challenge we faced in 2011 and the things we learned from it.  It was so touching their feedback and support of one another.

Being around them for the morning might have made me a bit aware of the differences between myself and them.  There might be a slight age difference, and with that- experience, know how and self confidence.  By the end of my day I hadn't had my prayer or Bible study time, which centers me, and I was just a bit off.

I already focus largely on the reasons behind what I do, often even down to the little things.  I'm always striving to find greater efficiency, do what I'm doing with sound logic.  I aim for perfection of myself and sometimes that spills out on my sweet husband.  It's not enough that I have to "drive" myself onward to new goals, new performance- Perfection, but then I begin to critique him, and by the end of the night I just didn't feel right. 

As I got into a hot shower to prepare for today, a day full of study groups, I realized I had not spent time with the One who centers me.  (In our last leadership class, we discussed the idea of being centered as a leader).  I turned to one of my favorite books- Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His Highest.  The title- Christian Perfection.

From the reading:
It is a snare to imagine that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do; God's purpose is to make us one with himself.  The emphasis of holiness movements is apt to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum.IF you go off on this idea of personal holiness, the dead-set of your life will not be for God, but for what you call the manifestation of God in your life.... The thing that tells for God is not your relevant consistency to an idea of what a saint should be, but your real vital relation to Jesus Christ, and your abandonment to Him...

Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection.  Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship to God which shows itself amid the irrelevancies of human life.  When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that strikes you is the irrelevancy of the things you have to do, and the next thing that strikes you is the fact that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives,  Such lives are apt to leave you with the idea that God is unnecessary, by human effort and devotion we can reach the standard God wants.  In a fallen world, this can never be done.  I am called to live in perfect relation to God so that my life produces a longing after God in other lives, not admiration for myself.  Thoughts about myself may hinder my usefulness to God.  God is not after perfecting me to be a specimen in His showroom; He is getting me to the place where He can use me.  Let Him do what He likes.

End.

Wow- talk about speaking truth into ones life.  Because I wasn't centered for the day on God's purpose for me as a leader, I got just tangled up in what the world says is the successful track.  I was caught up in thinking about the career development of a CEO or business owner.  I was being strangulated in what "should be" in a spouse.  No to all these things.  If I am to be who God is calling me, then the next career step is no longer my vision.  I leave these things to God to pursue what is to be my Christian perfection... my leadership.  When in this Profiles in Power breakfast, my goal should be to love, to befriend.  In my marriage- it shouldn't be on this idea of a dynamic social duo... its about the beauty of extending grace.  The joy of forgiveness.

While I learn what I need to meet the requirements of what God may call me to in the future, it is important to remember to strive for this new kind of relational perfection today.