On to Perfection

I just came back from two Bioethics courses at Asbury. One was Sickness and Disability and the other was Death and Dying. We covered some pretty heady topics as far as the meaning of life, the value of life, what constitutes life, who decides and on what basis when to "pull the plug", etc. We also talked about how within each of our cultures we value some things above others and this in turn informs what we might label as sick or disabled or even life. One thing we had to read amongst a whole lot of reading, was a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne called "The Birthmark". It is the story of a scientist married to what Hawthorne describes as an incredibly beautiful woman whom he loves dearly. However on her face she has a birthmark, that although he still sees as a part of who his wife is he longs to remove so that her perfect face might be completely flawless. I won't tell you the end of the story. You can actually find it on line if you look. Anyway I tell you all this to say that it got me to thinking about the human condition in conjunction with the perfecting and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit.

A leap? Maybe. What strikes me is this...our culture seems to be awfully caught up in perfection. Perfect hair, skin, body, so much so that we will pay thousands of dollars on surgeries to "enhance" or "perfect" what we perceive as flaws. What I started wondering was, where does this desire for perfection come from? Why do we try so hard to acheive it? What I know is that God created us with many desires and drives that He intends for specific purposes and because of the fall and the sin in this world many of our God given drives and desires have been misdirected. I believe that God created us with a desire for spiritual perfection that can only be found in relationship with Him and as a coworker with the Holy Spirit. Instead we have taken this God given desire for spiritual perfection and misdirected it to physical or temporal perfection. Once we make Jesus Christ the leader of our lives the gift of his Spirit in us becomes the perfector of our souls.
I am not against taking care of the bodies God gave us, don't get me wrong. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit and wherever we walk is hallowed ground!

Matthew 5:48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Jesus says this and what the original Greek points to as far as this perfection is one of completion and we can only be made complete when we are joined once again in relationship with our Creator through the saving blood of Christ.

On to perfection...