Copyright by Shea Oakley.
\nAll rights reserved.<\/p>\n
Perfection without love is not perfection at all. Human perfectionism is most often a cold, hard thing. It is only concerned with reaching the highest possible level of performance, the highest level that self-effort can achieve. It has everything to do with pride and nothing to do with love.<\/p>\n
It is well to remember an aspect of the revealed nature of the One by whom everything is measured. The God of the Bible is described as love. In fact His love for us is declared to be perfect love. He is also known as the giver of grace to His fallen creation. Part of our Lord\u2019s perfection includes the bestowal of unmerited favor, even to those who do not know, or care to know, Him. God\u2019s grace can also be assumed to be perfect as it is an outworking of His nature.<\/p>\n
The truth of this, if received, is the greatest source of comfort a human being can ever know. Perfect love implies a love so pure and so strong that it can overcome the deepest darkness we might encounter during our earthly pilgrimage. Perfect grace extends that to include the darkness that dwells in our own souls as well. Whether it is within or without, the evil that once indwelt us as unbelievers cannot the withstand divine perfection now working within our surrendered lives Upon receiving Jesus Christ this perfection is imparted to the new believer. At that moment we become flawless, unblemished in His sight. That reality is then worked out within us over time through the process of sanctification.<\/p>\n
Notice that we receive this faultlessness, we do not achieve it. True perfection is only gained by accepting God\u2019s perfection, and that as a gift. Any human attempt to reach this condition autonomously is, by definition, doomed to failure. It is inherently flawed because it is in no way related to the source and embodiment of all that is perfect. If God is not both present in, and master of, the life of a human being that human being remains profoundly flawed and that which is flawed in any way ultimately can never dwell with Him, in this life or the next. The imparted perfection of God, in and though Christ, is ultimately the only way to find what so many profoundly frustrated perfectionists are looking for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Copyright by Shea Oakley. All rights reserved. Perfection without love is not perfection at all. Human perfectionism is most often a cold, hard thing. It is only concerned with reaching the highest possible level of performance, the highest level that self-effort can achieve. It has everything to do with pride and nothing to do with… <\/p>\n