Perfect!

A Lesson Learned: by Robin Thomas

I asked my daughter to make chocolate chip cookies, as I saw her sinking into oblivion in a zombie like state from too much isolation, courtesy of our “shelter in place” orders. She got up and started in on it. As she was getting ready to put them in the oven I, like the selfless person that I am (cough, cough), tried her cookie dough. Chocolate chip cookie dough is one of the great wonders of the world, right? Who doesn’t like it? It tasted good but a little less salty than I am used to. I figured, Oh well, it’s just me. When the first batch came out of the oven they had not flattened out like normal. She forgot to put in the baking soda. Oops. She put it in for the rest of them, but she had a dozen cookies that tasted okay, but looked a little funny and were not perfect.

Should we not strive for perfection? Is that not our goal, to be perfect?

I answer with a resounding, “NO!!!”

Wait, what?

GOD IS PERFECT and it is only through Him that we can reach perfection.

We cannot earn it, no matter what we do.

The Pharisees, the great leaders of Israel, tried to earn perfection by following all the laws, and there were 613 of them. It was through their strife of perfection that they missed PERFECTION itself in the form of a Messiah.

My nose is too long, my legs are too short, I can’t quite grasp that concept, I am really unathletic, I'm overweight, I don’t have many friends, I am uncool….

Lack of perfection is what gives us a need for grace, and GRACE is the only way we can reach perfection.

The Apostle Paul asked God to take away his “thorn in the flesh” the thing that hindered him, made him imperfect, but God refused. “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

So Paul writes,

“So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. (2 Cor 12:9 NLT)

There is a quote by Robert Tew that says,“There’s no need to be perfect to inspire others, let people get inspired by how you deal with your imperfections.”

I would go one further to say, imperfect people overcoming trials are the ones through whom Christ’s light shines brightest. If you are already perfect where is there room for Christ?

So, what happened to the imperfect chocolate chip cookies?

Not to worry, we put them out for the gang of teenage boys that came through and they were gone in a heartbeat.