Trusting not perfect

We've been slowly remodeling our bathroom over the last three months. VERY SLOWLY! We are paying a contractor to install the new shower walls. One wall is tricky: it has three windows that require many pieces and precise cuts of material.

I pointed out to the contractor that one piece didn't line up properly with the window, and he instantly responded, "Nobody's perfect! I'm not a machine that can make perfect cuts!"

I tried to calmly respond (was I successful?) that perfection wasn't the goal but consistency, minimizing attention to flaws. I asked him if he would still be able to keep the caulk lines roughly uniform.

We can become defensive when people point out our flaws and shortcomings and throw out "nobody's perfect" as a shield against criticism. But it is ultimately a hollow argument when we try to say this to God. God is God and we are not!


Too much has been made of Jesus' words in Matthew, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt 5:48). It usually just causes defensiveness, "Nobody's perfect," rather than a desire to change. Jesus is not talking about moral perfection in this part of the Sermon of the Mount; he is talking specifically about loving your enemies (Matt 5:44), which is difficult, but possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Greek word teleios is better translated as "ready to serve" rather than "perfect": "Be ready to serve (your enemies) as your heavenly Father is ready to serve (you and them)."

God's call is not to be morally perfect, to never make any foolish or selfish choices. Our call is first to trust that God is faithful: Jesus is raised from the dead! Paul writes in his second letter to Timothy, "if we are faithless, he remains faithful--for he cannot deny himself" (2 Tim 2:13). Even if we are faithless, God is faithful!

Trusting God's faithfulness sets us free from worrying about perfection and instead on how we can serve God and neighbor. We can dial down our defensiveness when criticized because we know we need help changing to be ready to serve. We can let go of our unrealistic standards for ourselves and focus our energies on consistently loving our neighbors as ourselves. As Paul says, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed..." (2 Tim 2:15).

With the help of God, doing my best,
Pastor Peter