The Desire for Perfection

In the previous video about what motivated the fall I mentioned the desires for knowledge, perfection and autonomy. In this article/video I want to explore the topic of perfection and try to answer the following questions. 

1. Do human beings display a desire for perfection? 

2. What does Scripture have to say about perfection?

To our first question: Do humans display a desire for perfection in relation to us being made in God’s image?

In everyday life we see this unconscious desire for perfection manifesting itself in a variety of ways. A little boy making sandcastles on the beach works to make every one of them without defect. He fills a mould with sand, pats it down, turns it over, but if the corner breaks off he starts again. A little girl rejects every flower with a flaw when picking a bunch for her mother, whilst an atheist cleaning his car inspects the final product to check if he missed a tiny spot of dirt.  

And, many people become obsessed with what they perceive as their imperfections. The nose is too big, the eyes too narrow, the lips need to be more full! How about a nip and a tuck, a few lumps of silicon, and while we're at it, remove the moles, the scars, that weird birthmark and get the teeth straightened and whitened.  The cosmetics, fashion, beauty treatments and cosmetic surgery industries can testify to our obsession to trying to look perfect.

Also, we witness this drive in the elevation of self. There are literally thousands of self-development courses and spiritual growth movements about finding our full potential. People seek the perfect holiday, perhaps on a tropical paradise or getting back to nature, camping in a forest near a lake, or walking through a beautiful botanical garden, as though there is an unconscious desire to be back to the Garden of Eden. Yes, it is also true that as people grow older and the reality of life kicks in that they lower their expectations and give up, and some become bitter with disappointment.

Yet millions are engaged in religions which promise perfection, especially those associated with Eastern forms of self development through countless reincarnations. Hinduism and Buddhism are the most common forms, both teaching a drive towards enlightenment. The message is not that we are made in God’s image, but rather that we are gods, either on our way to rediscovering the divinity we lost on the Wheel of Life, or eliminating karma on a journey to perfect consciousness and unity with the cosmos, or a combination of both. There is no Creator in Buddhism, no God to dictate the terms of how we reach perfection, and in Hinduism, there are millions of gods to choose from, but the fundamental message is always self in the center.

Furthermore, neither the history of modern-day atheist/socialism or the theory of evolution can escape the desire for perfection. The end of the 19th century was excited about the ‘brave new world’ humans would create now that, as Nietzsche claimed, ‘God was dead’. Feuerbach stated that humanity had created an ideal of perfection outside of itself, projected the desire for perfection onto an imaginary being and called it God. This he termed 'wish projection'.

Into the mix came Karl Marx, a German of Jewish descent. Marx, like Feuerbach before him, attacked Christianity as a 'pie in the sky' mentality. 'Religion is the poor man's opium' he claimed, a substitute for those who don't have and can’t get what they want. Eliminate God and human beings would eradicate disease, wars, and create a socialist utopia where everyone was equal.

The desire for perfection is witnessed in those made in God’s image, whether we recognize our Creator or not. But this desire for perfection, which is often an unconscious one, is always coupled with a desire for knowledge and autonomy. All three manifest themselves even when we are children, and as we become more aware of ourselves as individual selfs,  the battle becomes either God’s way, or my way. All of us have chosen our way, have chosen to rebel, to demand our autonomy from an early age and, as a result, all have become slaves to self which is slavery to sin. The wise person recognizes the reality of the world around us and understands that the whole creation has been subjected to decay, that the flower dies, the weeds grow, beauty fades, enlightened gurus never reach perfection, and death is a constant stalker.

And to our second question.

2. What does Scripture have to say about perfection in relation to us being made in God’s image?

To answer this question we need to firstly recognize the character of our Creator, and then the goal of creation.

Scripture declares about God that ‘His works are perfect’ (Deuteronomy 32:4) ‘all His ways are perfect’ (2 Samuel 22:31), that He is ‘perfect in knowledge’ (Job 37:16), that He is ‘perfect in love’ (1 John 4) and Jesus summarized all of this in commanding, ‘Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect’ (Matthew 5:48). 

Jesus was speaking in the context of sin and loving our enemies, He was calling us to have the character of God. He had just finished speaking about murder, adultery, divorce and revenge and, in my opinion, challenging us to compare our selfish and sinful desires with the One in whose image we are made. Was Jesus ever suggesting that we could make ourselves perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect? No, such as idea is ridiculous…rather, He was laying the ground of teaching that only those united with Him in His death and resurrection, could ever even begin the process of godly perfection.

And what would the perfection of God even look like? Job declares that God is ‘perfect in knowledge’, a statement that means God knows all things, yes, all things.

Imagine being able to understand perfectly the dynamics of quantum physics as though it was a kindergarten class, or to know every minute function of every cell within the human body as simply as understanding a child’s jigsaw puzzle; to know the names of every star ever formed, or the movements of every ant in every place in the world at the same time, or how many liters were in the oceans at any given moment, and to know the actions, emotions, choices and destinies of every person ever born or to be born. These few examples should make us recognize our human limitations and the knowledge of God. 

And we could go on to speak of perfect power, or that in all His ways God is perfect, His judgments, His holiness, His infinite creativity and His love. This being we call God revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, the Word, the Logos, our Creator became flesh and dwelt among us. He knew the thoughts of men, He created bread and fish with a word, turned water into wine, He changed people at the cellular level, healing them, giving sight to the blind, sound to the deaf and words to the mute, He commanded the weather and walked on the water.

And He revealed God’s absolute holiness in a sinless life, and even forgave those who flogged Him and impaled His mutilated body on a Roman cross. And in all of this, in His mortal human body, He demonstrated God’s plan and purpose and the means by which we could fulfill why we were made in His image. That is, through absolute and uncompromising submission to the will of the Father, by absolute surrender of self and autonomy to the plan and purpose of the Triune God.

Jesus Christ revealed the purpose for which we were made in His image. That is, to be in an unbroken, holy, loving relationship with Him as Creator and creature, but a relationship on His terms, not ours. Those terms begin with a command to deny self, take up our cross, and follow Him. The desire for perfection, the desire to make ourselves like God our way, must be surrendered to God through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, recognizing that He bore our sinful rebellion on the cross.

When we surrender our will to His will, our self –rule to His rule, we are crucified with Christ and united with Him in His death and resurrection, and we begin a journey towards being perfected His way. In the meantime we are given a declaration of sinlessness, for ‘by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy’ (Hebrews 10:14).

And we of all people are most privileged for we have been granted the opportunity, through the death and resurrection of Christ, to become partakers of the divine nature, something those under the old covenant never experienced.

Hebrews 11:40 states that, ‘God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect’. 

They lived under the old covenant and the writer to the Hebrews tells us:

Hebrews 7:19 ‘(for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God’. 

And,

Hebrews 10:1 states that, ‘The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming — not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship’. 

As Christians we surrender our desire for perfection to the perfection of Christ to be ‘conformed into His likeness’ (Romans 8:29), and to share in His glory, if indeed we are also willing to share in His sufferings (Romans 8:17).

This process of being transformed is in cooperation with the divine nature within us as we learn to know and live in the perfect will of our Lord.

Romans 12:2 commands us: ‘Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will’. 

Our sins are forgiven, the old self-rule has been crucified with Christ, but the habits remain and, therefore, it is our minds which must be renewed, for it is in the mind where habits are formed, and new godly habits are created as we no longer conform to the pattern of the world. And we do not walk this path alone, but with the support of the Church, the body of Christ. Paul wrote that: ‘We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ’. (Colossians 1:28)  

And if we truly know Christ and have experienced being born from above, then we know that we ‘belong to Christ’ (Romans 8:9) and are ‘God’s own possession’ (Ephesians 1:14). We therefore, do not discipline ourselves out of fear, but out of love, as John tells us,

1 John 4:18 ‘There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love’. 

If you still fear eternal punishment, then either you have never truly experienced the grace, forgiveness and love of Christ, or are being taught a form of performance based salvation, which is no salvation at all. Surrender your life to Christ, unconditionally. No person can do that whilst they are still in love with the life they have now. If you are not ready to die to self, it is because you have never seen your sinful self through the eyes of your holy Creator. Ask Him to reveal your sin to you, and when He does, in His time, you will be ready to die in order to be born anew, born again.

In that moment, God in His grace will command that you surrender to Him by faith in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus, an unconditional surrender. He will not take your life from you against your will, and neither will He accept anything less. He is the sovereign Lord who knows how to fulfill His plan for those made in His image, and He alone decides who will be filled with His divine nature and when that occurs.

Once we are regenerated, born again, we begin the process of being transformed to the likeness of Christ, His way. This process will never end, it will continue for all eternity, for the One who created us to know His perfect love, holiness, creativity and knowledge, is infinite in all that He is. 

In summary, as creatures made in God’s image we have a desire for knowledge, perfection and autonomy. As young children we desire knowledge, we want to experience everything we see around us, and even to imitate our parents. When we are forbidden to play with scissors, or feel our curiosity is being suppressed, we rebel, that autonomous nature comes to the fore and we sin, that is, once we understand the fundamentals of obedience. As we grow older our sense of identity increases, and at puberty this self-centered focus is in full swing. 

But through all of this, we unconsciously portray a desire for perfection in our choices and actions, from making sand-castles, to picking flowers to washing the car. None of us can escape the powerful desires of our inherent natures, and none but Christ has controlled them. But all of this is part of God’s plan for us, a plan to bring those of us who are willing into an eternal, holy, loving and perfect relationship with Him.

Steve Copland