Saturday, December 20, 2003

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
(Matthew 5.48 NRSV)

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Have you ever known anyone who was a perfectionist? They are very hard to live with. We are not talking about people who seek after excellence. In the British Museum in London rests the final draft of Thomas Gray's masterpiece, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." Lovers of English literature marvel how every word seems so carefully chosen. And they were. Gray wasn't satisfied with his first draft, so he rewrote it. Then he improved the poem a third time. He continued for eight years. With all that persistent polishing, however, Gray never considered his poem complete. In the museum display we can see each successive copy carefully penned by hand. All seventy-five drafts!

That is a commitment to excellence. We are not talking about that. We are talking about people who would never begin a poem in the first place. Sadly, many people confuse such compulsiveness with Christianity. They take Jesus' words in Matthew five that we are to be perfect even as our Heavenly Father is perfect and that we are to be without a flaw. They forget that if it were possible for us to be flawless, Jesus would never have needed to go to the cross! Jesus doubtless meant that we are to be perfect in our love even as God's very nature is love.

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Dear God, help me to be full of your grace and love. Amen.

Ron Newhouse

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