I woke this morning thinking about life in the Garden of Eden. The simplicity of life, the ease of gathering sustenance, no danger lurking around every corner, or travel requirements to fill the shelves of a pantry.
Life was perfect. Right? Perhaps, but not necessarily so. Adam and Eve still had warnings about what not to do, but I’m not sure they comprehended the potential disaster.
From the fires in California to the dangerous truck in New Orleans, we’ve watched what many think as perfection personified is attacked in vicious ways. There’s a mar on perfection. Except, it wasn’t perfect.
My morning thinking has been identifying life from an aged perspective. We’ve lived in some great areas, enjoyed good neighbors, made life-long friends, and had excellent family experiences.
But we live in an imperfect world. We’ve polluted perfection and ignored God’s plan.
Could it be we are the mar on perfection?
If so, we are 8 billion strong, with a new crop showing up every year, and we keep perfecting our imperfections. We keep tearing down paradise and putting up a parking lot.
The Mar on Perfection: …we are 8 billion strong, with a new crop showing up every year, and we keep perfecting our imperfections. Share on XSo. I turned to my master collection of books that deal with changing form imperfection to perfection. Here are a few thoughts.
- Jesus tells us that if we “love our enemies,” we will be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. (Mark 5: 44-48). Of course, he speaks in the middle of His Sermon on the Mount, so we know this is one step toward perfection.
- To the rich young ruler, Jesus tells him perfection is recognized by selling what he had, giving it to the poor, and following Christ. (Matthew 19:16-30) Of course, Jesus is talking to a rich person, and we all know that rich people mind the things that make and keep them rich. Right?
- We learn of Noah, who was perfect in his generation and walked with God (Genesis 6:5-9), but God saw the wicked and perverseness of mankind and was sorry he had created them.
And that’s when it came to me.
It was once perfect. But we were made with a right of choice, and our choices are dizzyingly awful!
But there’s hope. We can live in an imperfect place and from an imperfect space and strive for perfection. How?
Be like Noah. Walk with God.
Don’t be like that rich young ruler who walks away because all we think about is riches.
Finally, love everyone because everyone matters.
These are simply the starting place to remove the mar on perfection.