Nobody’s Perfect?

 

In your life I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying “nobody’s perfect.” Many times people say this after trying hard to do some task or accomplish some goal. Others use this phrase as an excuse for bad behavior or just plain laziness.

However, let’s consider this phrase in the light of the Bible, God’s Word. Does it have anything to say about perfection? In the book of Job, we are told that Job was a perfect man. Jesus, God manifested in the flesh, said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” He said, “Everyone that is perfect shall be as his master.” Would Jesus tell us to do something that we were not able to do?

In this life, we all make mistakes. We all have problems, failures, and shortcomings. However there must be a way to comprehend these scriptures, even in this seemingly imperfect world.

The apostle Paul once stated, “Not that I were already perfect, nor that I had already attained.” Yet in another place he says, “It is no longer I that liveth, but Christ liveth in me.” Does Paul mean that Christ was not already perfect? There has to be a proper understanding of this. What Paul was referring to was in one place the outer man [body], the other place the inner man (spirit). We know that in our flesh we are full of problems, and make many mistakes. Still the Bible states that God hath PERFECTED FOREVER them that are sanctified. This can only happen by the act of God (grace through faith in His works at Calvary), when we are born again of His Spirit. Only God can justify or make perfect. Only God has the right to judge perfection. Only when we look through the eyes of His perfect Word, not through our own carnal understanding, can we rightly divide the word of God.

In our eyes, we look at a big, red, ripe, juicy apple as perfect. God may look at the little flowering bud, the green apple, or any stage of the maturing process as being perfect for that period of time. The nature of the finished product is in the little bud. It only has to be manifested later.

In the life of a Christian we cannot expect maturity from a newborn. Likewise, we should expect a mature child of God to behave as one. Still, both, the Bible says are perfected forever.

Let God be true and every man a liar! Let us not believe what we see, but what God’s Word says.

Written by Brother Stan Baker