Lord, how can we ever be perfect?
Seems an impossible task…
Apart from Jesus, thinking about the perfect person:
Well, they’d be happy
And fit
And well-dressed
Always say the right things, do the right things
They’ll help you if you need it
They care about others
They’re always clean and primped
preferably have money and standing
well-respected
Those are all good things and some people have all of those and many more
God’s idea of perfection has nothing to do with any of those things
Look at John the Baptist, he wore camel’s hair
Jesus didn’t always say what people might consider the right things
Some of the disciples and especially the apostles
were not thought of well by others,
others meaning the Pharisees and Sadducees
And He said unto them,
Ye are they which justify yourselves before men;
but God knoweth your hearts:
for that which is highly esteemed among men
is abomination in the sight of God. Luke 16:15
God looks on our heart
He is looking for humility toward Him
Fear of Him and obedience to His ways
We will never be perfect on Earth but we can be perfect in His sight
These are a couple of scriptures that give us hope
that one day we will be perfect in our new glorified bodies,
that are not flesh, more real than what we know:
Beloved, now are we the sons of God,
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:
but we know that, when He shall appear,
we shall be like him; for we shall see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18
Jesus looks on us differently than how we see ourselves
He does not compare us to the perfect person described above
He looks on our heart
and on our willingness to do
what we have been given by Him to do for His Kingdom
But the Lord said unto Samuel,
Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature;
because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth;
for man looketh on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looketh on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7
Every human has faults and misgivings about themselves
We will never attain that perfection on our own
Recognizing that is good
Do your best to serve Him in the best way you can
He will see that and He will honor your dedication
Be humble before Him and forgive yourself quicker
He alone knows our hearts:
Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place,
and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways,
whose heart thou knowest;
(for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men😉
1 Kings 8:39