Week 21—Saturday 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Week 21—SATURDAY
THIS CHRISTIAN PERFECTION SAVES
FROM PERFECTIONISM
We are meditating upon the statement: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father . . . is perfect.” Is this idealism—an impossible idealism—or is it stark realism? We have seen that an urge after perfection is inherent in man—is inherent in everything from the lowest cell to the highest man. So the urge upward is met by an offer downward; God the Father offers in Christ Jesus what our inner urges reach for—perfection. This is realism. Apart from this the whole process would be the word become word—an upward cry but no answer from God. But this offer of God makes the word of striving become possible—the word of perfection becomes flesh.
At the very time, it saves this striving after perfection from perfectionism. Perfectionism is the striving after perfection turned in upon itself, becoming self-conscious and therefore uninviting and repulsive. A girl came to one of our Ashrams bent on her own perfection. She used everybody to further her ends toward perfection. As a result, her perfectionism became obnoxious self-centeredness. Her fiancé had to break off the engagement, for he saw that the marriage relationship was going to be used to further her self-conscious aims. So perfectionism turned into imperfect relationships. “Lilies that fester smell worse than weeds.”
This offer from above saves us from another type of perfectionism—telling people they are to recognize themselves as already perfect, and working out from that as a hypothesis. The same worm of self-centeredness is eating at the heart of that hypothesis. But this perfection Jesus offers does not begin in us. It begins in a relationship with the perfect God, and all our perfection then is a gift of grace—Christ-conscious instead of self-conscious. It is also outgoing, instead of in-growing—it is love for enemies. It is wholesome, for it makes you whole.
O Jesus, you redeem our highest urge as well as our lowest urges. We are grateful that we can now give vent to our highest longings, for they are now turned into redemptive channels—for us and others. We are in awe at your redemption. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I’m looking away from my imperfect self to the perfect God as seen in the face of Jesus. He has my attention, therefore has me.