Spiritual perfection in Christian preaching refers to the lifelong journey of growing into full Christlikeness through persistent effort, love, and surrender (Philippians 3:12-14). Illustrations often use natural growth, like an acorn maturing into an oak, or the refining process of trials shaping character, emphasizing gradual development and patient labor (James 1:4).
Success fulfills our longing for significance. We become impressed with ourselves, leaving little elbow room for the legitimate contender for the throne. What else could account for Ted Turner crowing after his gift to the United Nations, "IF ONLY I HAD A LITTLE HUMILITY, I'D BE PERFECT"?
Most people think they have to be good to go to heaven, but God expects perfection. We do not measure up to his standard.
In his celebrated book, "Abraham Lincoln, the War Years," author Carl Sandberg told of Lincoln traveling from Springfield to Washington for his inauguration. Those seeing the president-elect for the first time were most impressed with how tall he was. Curiously, many men stepped up to the train platform and stood back-to-back with him to compare their height to his. Only one man measured up to Mr. Lincoln. All the others failed.
God measures us against his son Jesus. His standard is perfection. Only Jesus can get us to heaven.
Calvin and Hobbes are sitting under a tree having a discussion.
Calvin: If heaven is good, and if I like to be bad, how am I supposed to be happy there?
Hobbes: How will you get to heaven if you like to be bad?
Calvin: Let's say I didn't DO what I WANTED to do.
Suppose I led a blameless life! Suppose I denied my true dark nature!
Hobbes: I'm not sure I have that much imagination.
Calvin: Maybe heaven is a place where you're ALLOWED to be bad!
Ted Turner, quoted in "National & International Religion Report," Nov. 28, 1994:
"Heaven is perfect. Who wants to go to a place that's perfect? Boring, boring. [In hell] we'll have a chance to make things better because hell is supposed to be a mess."
Integrity is more than not being deceitful or slipshod. It means doing everything “heartily as unto the Lord” (Col.3:23). In his book “Lyrics,” Oscar Hammerstein II points out one reason why, a reason Christians have always known:
“Around 1983, on the cover of the New York Herald Tribune Sunday magazine, I saw a picture of the Statue of Liberty … taken from a helicopter and it showed the top of the statue’s head. I was amazed at the detail there. The sculptor had done a painstaking job with the lady’s coiffure, and yet he must have been pretty sure that the only eyes that would ever see this detail would be the uncritical eyes of sea gulls. He could not have dreamt that any man would ever fly over this head. He was artist enough, however, to finish off this part of the statue with as much care as he had devoted to her face and her arms and the torch and everything that people can see as they sail up the bay … When you are creating a work of art, or any other kind of work, finish the job off perfectly. You never know when a helicopter, or some other instrument not at the moment invented, may come along and find you out.”
Success fulfills our longing for significance. We become impressed with ourselves, leaving little elbow room for the legitimate contender for the throne. What else could account for Ted Turner crowing after his gift to the United Nations, "IF ONLY I HAD A LITTLE HUMILITY, I'D BE PERFECT"?
”Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. . . .” — Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV)
The fable is told about a bloodhound who started a hunt chasing a stag. A fox crossed the path, so the hound chased the fox. After a while a rabbit crossed the path, so the hound went after the rabbit. Later, a mouse crossed the path and the hound ended up chasing the mouse into a hole. The hound began his hunt on the trail of a magnificent stag and ended up watching a mouse hole!
More important in life is not so much that we start well but that we get on track and finish well. . .that we know what our God-given life purpose is and that we don’t allow ourselves to get side-tracked with anything — good or bad — that will take our eye off the main goal — and that we keep our eyes fixed “on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. … “
Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to keep my eye fixed on Jesus so as to follow Him and not get waylaid by the many temptations of life and thereby get sidetracked from the goal and purpose you have for my life.Gratefully in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
After years of research, the profile of the “perfect pastor” has been developed. The perfect pastor preaches exactly fifteen minutes. He condemns sin, but never embarrasses anyone. He works from 8:00 A.M. until midnight and is also the church janitor. He makes $60 a week, wears good clothes, drives a new car, and gives $50 a week to the poor. He is twenty-eight years old and has been preaching for twenty-five years, is wonderfully gentle and handsome, loves to work with teenagers, and spends countless hours with senior citizens. He makes fifteen calls daily on parish families, shut-ins, and hospital patients, and he is always in his office when needed.
If your pastor does not measure up to this profile of the perfect pastor, simply send this description to six other churches that are tired of their pastor. Then bundle up your pastor and send him to the church at the top of the list.. In one week you will receive 1,643 pastors. One of them should be perfect.
Yesterday you heard Chuck Colson talking about the need for Christians to vote. Today, I want to talk about an aspect of voting that deeply troubles some Christians every time we have an election.
I’m talking about the fact that nobody’s perfect.
Wait a minute, you say, everybody knows that. That’s elementary-school stuff. Maybe so, but the truth remains that every election year, many Christians discover this simple fact all over again, and it throws them into a tizzy. They go into the political process as if they were picking a pastor instead of an elected official. They look for someone who is right in every category that matters to them, instead of looking for someone who will advance the common good and agrees with them as much as possible. When they don’t find the perfect person, they become disillusioned.
Politics is a rough business, but so is all of life. There’s always something that triggers this trend. This year, some of those triggers include the Foley scandal and David Kuo’s book TEMPTING FAITH, which attempted to persuade evangelicals that they were being used by those in power, even those who claimed to be on their side. And for some, it worked.
Thus, for example, Rod Dreher writes at his blog on Beliefnet.com, “I’m not prepared to be used ... again.... I can’t bring myself to vote Democratic, because I have no faith in the Democrats.... [But] I doubt very much I’m going to vote for [the Republicans] at the national level, because they have not earned my vote.” I guess we’re left with the conclusion that no one is good enough to vote for.
Rod is a good man, a good journalist, and a faithful Christian. He’s a brother. But I think he’s dead wrong. If you read more of his blog, it appears that he, and others with the same mindset, are insisting that politicians not only make the right decisions, but that they make them for the right reasons and that they make them all the time. Take it from someone who’s been in politics — that’s just not going to happen.
Are we right to want our leaders to share our values? Of course. But will we always have the choice? What should our response then be? To choose as wisely as we can — or not to choose at all?
The great conservative writer Russell Kirk called for us to be guided by “the principle of prudence,” or of sound judgment and consideration for long-term consequences. It might feel good if you feel disillusioned to refuse to vote, sitting on your hands at home, registering your protest. It might make you feel like you’ve taught the politicians a lesson. But if that’s the case, we’ve only failed to stand up and tell the politicians what we believe in. How can we expect our government to take an interest in what we believe if we won’t take the simplest action of voting to defend it?
The fact is, we always have a choice, whether we realize it or not. We have a choice between candidates. We have a choice to influence our government, or to stay silent. This year, I hope that all of you all around the country will make the right choice.
Go to the polls. Pray for wisdom and prudence. Then vote.
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Copyright (c) 2006 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.
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