What does the perfect Christian look like? Is there such a thing? Maybe the perfect Christian is a person who always does everything right. Maybe this is a person who never does anything right. Or perhaps it is somebody who is just 'perfect' enough to believe. I find it funny that no person can draw up a 'cookie cutter' picture of the perfect Christian and yet most of us still strive to try to become just that. We exact our will and self-control over ourselves in an attempt to force ourselves to live right, even though the morality that God desires is and can only be "fruit" of the Spirit. We put on our Christian costumes and smiley faces because we as Christians are supposed to. We can never be sad. We can never have a bad day. Society has shaped for us what 'Christians' should look like, and we spend every ounce of our energy trying to fall in line.
We can find this very scenario taking place in Matthew 11: 28-30. Jesus speaks to a crowd of beat up, worn down people, who are striving to be something that no authoritative Source ever told them they had to be.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Jesus speaks these words in the midst of a society in which the Pharisees set the religious precedent for how people should live. Living by the 'Law of Moses,' these Pharisees sought to uphold a standard of religious life which consisted of 613 commands (Mitzvot) by which people should carry themselves in every day living, and 39 more prohibitions that were to be adhered to on the Sabbath. I can only imagine how miserable life must have been for the average 'Joe' living amongst these legalistic leaders. In essence, the Pharisees were trying to be perfect, and they expected everybody else to do the same.
Jesus' response to this legalism was to invite the people, who were following the ways of the Pharisees, to follow Him instead. His 'yoke' was(is) easy and his burden light. The Pharisees' yoke consisted of the laundry list of commands mentioned before. Jesus' yoke consisted of one central command, but had two aims: Love: Love God and love each other. Jesus knew that the rest of the moral life, once one was in love with God and extended that same love to humankind, would fall into place. Jesus still extends to us this very invitation.
This ancient culture and its context is all too familiar. There is essentially no difference in the underlying motivations of this incessant human tendency; to seek perfection and find some sort of 'cookie-cutter' that we can all fit into.
My suspicion is this:
Many, and maybe most of us find ourselves falling into this same un-Godly pursuit of religious perfection. However, I wonder what our motivation is. Why do we have this NEED to be perfect? I suspect that our keeping a clean slate will help us feel better about ourselves. Perhaps it will cause us to feel more 'worthy' of our Christian title. In reality though, most of us cannot give up control of our lives. We hate the idea of inadequacy. We can't stand that fact that we need God. So we strive, bite and claw our way to the 'perfect' life so that we never find ourselves in the position where God can truly meet us; a position of contriteness and dependence. This is not a comfortable position.
My challenge is this:
We must realize that God never asks us to be perfect, in a law keeping sense. God desires us to be perfect in a sense of having complete love for our Creator and the created; for God and his people. Yes, we should practice morality, but we have to be careful that our pursuit doesn't become a mere contest to see who can micro-manage their life enough to always 'get it right.' We must realize that the Christian life is, and is meant to be far more meaningful than just 'doing right.' We do our Savior and ourselves a disservice if that is what we think this life is all about.
Final Thought:
If you are striving for perfection so much so that you leave Christ completely out it, what's the point? To move Christ aside and seek the 'perfection' that we think He wants for us is to become idolatrous toward our own desire for 'right-ness' and to make an idol out of ourselves. Christ must be the center and circumference of our every pursuit.
Be blessed.
