our perfection is imperfection

one of my friends in college told me of a friend of hers who scored a 1600 on his s.a.t.'s. she told me that he had a free ride to harvard. not too shabby i thought. scoring a perfect score on any test is pretty good but to get through what is roughly a 4 hr test without getting one question wrong is very impressive.

joe mauer of the minnesota twins won the mlb batting title with a .347 average. which is amazing in its own right. the interesting thing about this is the best hitter in baseball only got a hit 35% of the time.

perfection is different from every angle. in academics we see it as being smart, one who can remember a statistic or fact from a time of study to answer a question correctly. what really stands out in this is our perfection is still imperfection. this guy who received a 1600 on his s.a.t.'s still doesnt know everything. he is still limited in his knowledge. as smart as this guy is, he might not have any common sense, he might not know how to give a car an oil change or fix his plumbing when there is a leak. as he is perfect in one area he still might not be able to conquer another.

joe mauer saw success with getting failing 65% of the time. i am personally awed by both of these achievements because both show skill, hard work and a sense of achievement. they have reached the top of what they were achieving for. as good as joe is he still could show improvement because he is not perfect.

wesleyans have in our doctrine what is called holiness or as john wesley called it christian perfection. as much as we discussed it in classes throughout college, it is still something that sits before me as a mystery. how does one attain it. if one does attain it does that mean i will always have it or can i lose it. psalm 119:96 says "to all perfection i see a limit; but your commands are boundless." this verse shows that perfection does have a limit, at least in human terms. it does not mean that if we are holy that we are perfect and we can never sin anymore. it only means human perfection is not necessarily referred to as 100%. it cant because it puts it on our terms, that we do not need Christ to attain perfection. it is saying that our imperfection is only perfected through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. show me a perfect human and i will still show you his flaw. show me an imperfect person and i will show you a perfect God who can use this person.

community has been talked about a lot lately as well. and as much as God will help us with our imperfections i think perfection comes out in community. where one is strong he can help out someone who is weak in that same area. everyone has their own gifts and talents that can be used. each one of us also have our own weaknesses that can be helped with someone elses strength. we will always do better in a pack, herd or group. it helps with protection, encouragement and challenge. when one is sick, someone takes care of him. when one is strong he provides strength and leadership. perfection is still limited, because we are human. however in a group things do get improve chances.