The Perfect Life

For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
Hebrews 10:14

Not long ago my sister and I met up in Florida to spend a day with my daughter in college there. It was the end of her sophomore year and she had invited us to come and watch her in a musical theater showcase. I enjoyed seeing the beautiful campus where she had been spending most of her time for the past two years, and it was a thrill to watch her on stage doing what she loves to do.

As the three of us visited over lunch, my daughter commented that the great lesson of her college experience so far has been to accept that things don’t have to be perfect.

She has always been an artist and a perfectionist. Even as a small child, dissatisfied with something she had drawn, she would crumple the paper in her hands and throw it to the floor in frustration. “It’s not like I see it in my head!” she would lament. Perfectionism and art don’t go together very well. All art forms— whether theater, drawing, painting, music, or anything else— require a willingness to put your work and yourself “out there.” You have to open yourself up to the inevitability that at times you will make a mistake; you will be criticized; you will fail.

Life is like that, too. It is inevitable that we will fail at times. We will mess up, embarrass ourselves, hurt others. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23). We are incapable in this fallen physical world of living perfect lives.

But Jesus lived a perfect life. And he died as the perfect sacrifice. “This Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God… For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified,” (Hebrews 10:12, 14). So although we cannot live perfectly, we can live perfected. Did you notice how verse 14 uses two competing verb tenses? “He has perfected” indicates that it’s already a done deal. Reading on in that same context, Hebrews 10:17 tells us that when we’re saved by Jesus, God remembers our sins no more. In that sense the Christian is already perfected. But the phrase “those who are being sanctified” sounds like it’s an on-going process, and that’s more what it feels like to us, isn’t it? I know I’m not perfect! But I also see how Jesus is working on my life, over time, to sanctify me.

On that trip to Florida I spent more time in the travel process than actually with my daughter. It took long enough to get there when the flights and connections went perfectly smoothly. On the return trip I had a five-and-a-half hour delay that left me in an airport thinking how I could have had more time with her if I had known in advance. So, air travel did not go perfectly. That’s hardly unusual. Troubles in life are not unusual. Yet we want life to go perfectly, and when it doesn’t, we often react like that little girl from all those years ago who threw crumpled drawings on the floor.

Luckily, in that airport my daughter’s insight came back to me: things don’t have to be perfect. I think God used her words that day in my on-going sanctification process, reminding me that the imperfections and frustrations of life are opportunities for me to trust in Him to work out all things for good.

I have to continually remind myself that I have no right to expect everything to go smoothly all the time, nor do I need it to. This is a fallen world but Jesus is always there for us. Life doesn’t have to be perfect because He is.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NIV)

Dear God, thank you for Jesus, for his perfect life, and for his perfect sacrifice which allows us to be acceptable in Your sight, in spite of our many imperfections. When life is less than perfect, help me to remember that I don’t need it to be. Help me to embrace challenging moments as opportunities to draw near to my perfect Savior.
In his holy name, Amen.

by Christie Cole Atkins