Aim At Perfection (as found in the June, 2010 Michigan In Touch)

Think about it. Most of us our average, right?

Of course it depends on what we’re talking about. I want to emphatically state, however, that there is no correlation between being average athletically, academically, and socially, and being average spiritually. In fact, if anything, we have an advantage. One of the most important elements of being a healthy, holy, useful Christian is knowing how much sin has corrupted you, how much you need the Lord Jesus Christ, how inadequate you are of yourself, and how only by God’s grace can you be sufficient for anything.

A wise man once said, “It is not great gifts God uses, but great likeness to Christ.” Timothy was a young pastor in the Bible, undoubtedly someone who was ‘average’. He didn’t enjoy the best of health, may not have had a father growing up, didn’t have a strong personality, and didn’t feel qualified for what he was called to do. But his fellow Christians spoke well of him and the great Apostle Paul assured him that God would use him: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

I’m not exactly sure of all that went into Timothy’s personal spiritual formation but I’m quite confident that it would have included these 4 “P’s”:

Priorities. Recommendation: have them! Make time to read, meditate upon and memorize the Word of God every day! Know what you believe … and have it formulate your convictions (your non-negotiables). Your convictions will govern what you think, what you think will govern your actions, and your actions will define your life. The battle is for the mind! Please have it full of God’s Word.

Prayer: set aside time for it. As Paul says in Ephesians 3(20), God is able to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, …” We need to be about asking God, and imagining what God can to through us for the kingdom. (Maybe this summer you could read the Bible for a half hour each day, and pray for a half hour each day.)

Power; that is, God’s power in your life. Ponder and be thankful for God’s saving power directed towards your life:

· you’ve not only been saved from sin’s guilt;

· you’ve also been set free from sin’s power so that it can no longer be your master. In other words, through the grace given you, learn to crucify, put to death the desires and deeds of your sinful nature – your flesh. (Clearly identified, by the way, in the Word of God).

Finally: Passion! Have it in your life for Christ and for His cause! Maybe you’ve read the Dylan Thomas poem that protests old age and death? “Do not go gentle into that good night … Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” We shouldn’t spend our lives raging against our mortality. But, we should want to “rage, rage” against mediocrity. Quit making excuses for not trying hard, for not pursuing excellence.

Thomas Edison said, “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”

Character is more important than intellect.

Guts is more important than ability. Every gift that God has given you should be passionately pursued and used as one way “to let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

Nelson Mandela in his inauguration address, quoting Marianne Williamson from her A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, said: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

You may not be the fastest person on the team, but you can run as hard as you can all the way to first base every time you get the bat on the ball. You may not be able to buy your clothes at the finest stores, but you can take pride in your appearance. You may not be able to make all A’s but don’t let anybody out-work you. There is nothing wrong with being average, but there’s everything wrong with being a lazy, “don’t care” under achiever.

Friends, Jesus is the One who left His throne in heaven as God, became man, not only to befriend you, but that He might live an exemplary life and make a perfect payment for your sin. He did that so that you could have life now, an abundant life, and an eternal life hereafter. All this by grace as a gift, through faith in Him.

Garrison Keillor, author of the nostalgic Lake Wobegon books, recalls his childhood Thanksgiving dinners, as the family gathered around the table and remembered the blessings of the past year. Uncle John usually gave the prayer, which caused everyone to squirm. As Keillor said, "Everybody in the family knew that Uncle John couldn't pray without talking about the cross and crying. … Sure enough, Uncle John prayed, talked about the cross, and cried. Meanwhile, the rest of us shifted nervously from one foot to the other and longed for the prayer to end."

Then Garrison Keillor adds this powerful observation: "All of us knew that Jesus died on the cross for us, but Uncle John had never gotten over it."

Never get over the cross!

We do well to remember these words of direction and encouragement from the Apostle Paul as he bids farewell in 2 Corinthians 13:11: Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

Indeed He will be!

Blessings on your summer!