Looking For Perfection

Looking for Perfection

Eve

What a perfect gift for Carolyn! I thought, as I picked up the framed print of the famous poem about footprints in the sand. As I stood in line to pay, I noticed a tiny scratch on the frame. The imperfection was barely visible and could be seen only when I held the frame at a certain angle. But it was enough to send me back to the shelf to examine each of the framed prints until I found the most perfect one.

While it’s only natural to want the nicest gift for someone, that incident started me thinking about my drive for perfection, which seems to grow stronger during the holidays. I want the perfect Christmas tree to decorate, and I knock myself out to make my house look picture perfect. I expect every dish of my Christmas meal to be cooked to perfection. My unrealistic expectations have ruined more than one special occasion for myself and for others.

Eve was the only woman who ever experienced perfection. God created a perfect environment for Adam and Eve to live in. Eve represented perfect womanhood, and she and Adam enjoyed an ideal relationship based on love and respect. Eve had the privilege and joy of an intimate relationship with her Creator. She lived in a perfect world, and she still ruined it by her disobedience to God’s single command.

Perhaps our drive for perfection stems from a longing to get back what was lost in the Garden of Eden. In any case, we’ll never know perfection in our environment or in ourselves as long as we live on earth. But as we allow God’s Spirit to transform us into becoming more like Christ, we move closer to that day in heaven when all imperfections will fade away. In the meantime, I’m definitely imperfect, but with God’s help, I’m improving.

I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.

Philippians 3:12