Wednesday Word: On being Anxious

Photo taken at Sylvan Lake in SD

On Praying.

On my mind this evening...

Goodnight,

Britta

*photograph taken on the coast in Washington last year.

Wednesday. Word.

Thoughts on Perfection

The human story does not always unfold like a mathematical calculation on the principle that two and two make four.  Sometimes in life they make five or minus three; and sometimes the blackboard topples down in the middle of the sum and leaves the class in disorder and the pedagogue with a black eye. 

~Winston Churchill

I have never considered myself a "Perfectionist".

But even having made such a bold statement I can still definitely pull out the areas in my life where I desire perfection (even though I realize it's impossible).

Right now for instance, I am even having a hard time deciding how to approach such a broad topic. How do you try to perfect your thoughts on the idea of "perfectionism" when the whole basis of it is ironic if not hypocritical. Why is that I feel a need to strive for perfection when I know that it is impossible to achieve? Often when I get caught up in a need for perfection I become overly critical of not only myself, but others surrounding me. I set myself up for a cycle of impossible expectations, worry, and ultimately disappointment. By doing this I often miss noticing the growth I did experience simply because I deemed it as "not enough".

Here is the truth:

As human beings we can never achieve perfection. It does not matter how much we strive for perfection or how hard we work. God has called us as Christians, however, to do our very best to obey him in all circumstances and to model ourselves after Christ, seeking perfection in a right relationship with God. Then, although we cannot achieve perfection on our own, God will make us perfect, holy and blameless before him through the blood of Christ.

This makes sense to me, but at the same time I often forget this.
I was reading Matthew the other day and was struck by the following command...

"Be perfect, therefore, as your
 heavenly father is perfect."             


  Matthew 5:48

I then found this commentary that helped me to clarify what God was asking of us in the scripture.

"Is this a contradiction? Is God on one hand telling us that we cannot be perfect but on the other hand commanding that we must be so? Not exactly. The Greek for the word "perfect" in this verse is telios, a word which does not imply sinless perfection, but instead implies full development and growth into maturity of godliness. The emphasis of the verse falls more upon the "committed and close relationship with God." This verse is also in a context of love. The challenge is to love as the Father loves, not loving only those who love us, but loving even our enemies and those who persecute us."

                                                 - Matthew Ropp "Seeking Perfection""


At first it may be a tough thing to accept. I (by my own strength) will never be perfect, but then there is the grace that comes with such knowledge...knowing that I am loved as I am. I am accepted as I am. My perfection is not what will save me. To be loved as a perfect human being is maybe more logical of a reason (even as impossible as it is), but to be loved as the sinner I am is amazing and astounding. 


For even the Apostle Paul failed to reach perfection, and I gained further understanding by reading more in the previously mentioned commentary...

"If anyone might have obtained perfection or been guaranteed of his salvation, one would think the Apostle Paul would qualify. In Philippians 3:12-4, however, we see that such was not the case. "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. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Paul forgets what is behind, whatever accomplishments he has made up to this point and also whatever failures are in his life, and strains toward what is ahead. He longs to achieve salvation, to be made perfect in Christ Jesus. No matter what is in the past, whether good or bad, each day is new in Christ and from wherever we are there is always room to grow closer to God. Like Paul, each day we should press forward, straining toward what God has called us to through Christ. "

What do we need to learn?

That Perfection belongs to God alone. This is not reason to give up trying, but rather to realize that perfection on our own is never the goal. Only when entering into heaven will we enter into true perfection. A person could take this information and misconstrue it to mean that there is no point in trying. The danger is that the inability to be perfect is not an invitation to give up. Rather we are to press onward like Paul seeking  to be made perfect in Christ. What I have taken from all of this is that I need to be aware of what motivates my need for perfection. If it is to grow closer to God so that I become more and more like Christ, good. If it is to please those around me and the expectations the world sets, not good.

So being perfect is not about...


Perfection is knowing that God is perfect, and because of Christ I don't need to achieve perfection on my own.

(sigh)

How good is that?

Not a Feeling.

Very often (nearly always, I'm afraid) when I come to church my feeling are uppermost in my mind. This is natural. We are human, we are "selves," and it takes no effort at all to feel. But worship is not a feeling. Worship is not an experience. Worship is an act, and this takes discipline. We are to worship "in spirit and in truth." Never mind about the feelings, We are to worship in spite of them.

-Elisabeth Elliot (Let Me be a Woman)

My thoughts are on this today. How true it is that too often we let our emotions dictate our attitude towards worship. It doesn't matter if I know every word to a song, if I burst out in tears, or if I raise my hands. If my worship is not "in spirit and in truth" then I not worshiping God. My emotions change by the hour, so therefor if I were to worship by the schedule of my emotions it would be fruitless. I need to worship in spite of my emotions as Elisabeth wrote, and that takes discipline. I am definitely still working on the discipline of doing so, but I hope to get closer and closer to authentic worship every day of my life.

early morning

Good Morning!

I woke up at 6am this morning...and only pressed snooze once. My thoughts this morning are on...


Grace


"your worst days are never so bad that you

are beyond the reach of God's grace. And you best

days are never so good you are beyond

the need of God's grace."

-Jerry Bridges





A gift we will never truly deserve but we receive everday nonetheless.

"Everything" Tim Hughes

Just got back from a Spirit-filled weekend :) Retreats are such a refreshing experience. The weather was pretty cold and brisk, but that didn't keep us from having fun together. It is hard to believe that the first time I went to the fall retreat was three years ago. It makes me feel a little old, but all the while blessed to be given the opportunity to year after year. Most of the sessions dealt with how God isn't looking to improve our lives, but instead he wants to transform them completely. Jesus is our substitution atonement. A payment had to be made for our sin and Jesus made the payment for us. There is no "sin calculator" that will tally up our sins when we reach the end of our lives. There is no score you must pass to get to heaven. All because Jesus Christ died for every sin we will ever commit. The gift of salvation is ours if we ask for it. Basically we have two options. First, we can self atone which will ultimately mean n life separated from God. The second option however, is to Jesus-atone. He has already taken the hit for us. Each one of us has the choice to accept him or reject him. We also talked about idols, and how each one of us, we are our own biggest idol. Moment by moment we will take care of ourselves and worship ourselves. There will be times we will follow the Lord, and times that we fall away from him. The amazing thing is though, God will breathe life into us.

Ezekiel 37
The Valley of Dry Bones
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"
I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know."

(we can be spiritually dry just like the bones. Alone they will remain dry, but with the breath of God they can be restored)

4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.' "

(We can be "bone-tired", weary, and dead spiritually...But Jesus can change all of that. We were given the Holy Spirit so that God was always with us. We were never supposed to always have Jesus here with us physically. You cannot be a Christian without the Holy Spirit. We were never meant to do it alone!)

This was only a small picture of things we learned this weekend. As much as it was spiritually filling, the sleep side of it was less fufilling :) It's always too hard to make yourself go to bed when everyone else is up having fun. Thankfully I have only a half day of work tomorrow and then no school tuesday. Rest is good.

The Day is Here...

The nights is almost finished and the day is almost here. So we should stop doing things that belong to darkness and take up the weapons used for fighting in the light.
-Romans 13:12

Romans is such an amazing book. I don't know why it took me so long to discover that. Even though it was written thousands of year ago it is still perfectly relevant to my daily life. I loved the passage in "The Message" on this verse so i want to include it here....

"But make sure you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all you day-to-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute, not not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around, and dissipation, in bickering, and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourself in Christ, and be up and about!."

Wow....ok so besides the fact that I'm still sitting in bed in my pajamas, this really hit me. What a lazy Christian I am while God is working everyday to prefect my salvation. I complain about the weather (since it is almost summer and still not as warm as I would like) and about finals ....but really I should be preparing myself for the return of Jesus Christ. Dawn is about to break, and where do i want to be when Jesus comes back. Laying around watching tv or doing something that shows my love for my savior...? The answer is obvious, I want to be glorifying the lord when Jesus comes back in all his glory. Day to day obligations too often take hold of my life and choke out my quiet times with God. I tell myself..."oh I really should read the Bible, but that history homework needs to get done." When in reality I know I have more than enough time to spend on God and my homework. It's the procrastination that stops that from happening. The thing is though that when Jesus does come back the last thing on my mind is going to be how I did on the Science lab....it's going to be completely on my Savior in front of me. I realize this in my head, but actually acting on it is a whole other matter. Why am I so on top of studying and doing laundry etc, but Lazy when it comes to what should be MY NUMBER ONE PRIORITY. So that's my goal this week, to dive back into the word. I want the bathe in the truth.

The Creator of Everything

"They traded the truth of God for a lie. They worshiped and served what had been created instead of the God who created those things, who should be praised forever. Amen."
-Romans 1:25

How true is this everyday...it seems extreme (worshiping things). Everyone must hear that and think "I don't worship things, that's crazy". What we don't get though is that you can still worship these things without bowing down on your knees. What do I worship? all of my things that I spend my time and money with....time that I could have spent worshiping God instead....and money that I could have done so many good things with. I sit here looking at my closet full of clothes and shoes that I just had to have. What good are they if my ultimate goal is to be saved by Christ and go to heaven when I die. I can't take these material things with me. They are nothing. mere dust. Some days I spend more time trying to decide where to put all these things in my apartment then i do worshiping the God who loves me. Too often my days are spent serving objects.....and all these things are nothing. I love this verse because it makes it so clear that here we all are worshiping things instead of the God that created them. Why praise something so little as material things when we could be praising the God who created EVERYTHING!