The Practice of Perfection

“Practice makes perfect, but nobody’s perfect, so why practice?”

― Kurt Cobain

The words of Jesus are perfectly clear: “Be as perfect as God.” (Matthew 5:48)

That’s the standard. That’s God’s expectation for you and me. (Pretty high bar, huh?)

Of course the verdict is absolute, up until now no other human besides Jesus Christ has been perfect. So what are we to make of Jesus’s impossible standard? As Cobain put it, if nobody’s perfect, why practice?

Well, first of all because it is commanded. We don’t get to pick and choose which rules and principles we want to adopt and live by. The Bible is not a “eat the fish and lay the bones to the side of the plate” book.

Second, God is working in us through our practice to bring us eventually to perfection (Philippians 1:6; 2:13). More on this in just a moment…

The third reason to practice – to strive for perfection – is because God deserves it. (This is called worship – in everything do it “as unto the Lord.”)

And finally, because we want to (this is called love). When you love someone it is reflected in your actions. The greater the love the greater the effort. Thus, our desire to be perfect is a good dashboard indicator of our love and passion for God.

The ONE THING for today: This life is a practice field preparing you for the real game. One day the big game will start and by God’s grace working in and through you in this life, you will be ready.

So hit the gym friend, you’ve got some push ups to do!

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. 

Hebrews 12:2, NLT