Friday, May 4, 2012

The Process of Perfection

UV396/10,000 The girdle of strength Psa 18:32 It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. God has set before us the goal of perfection. Jesus said, “ Be perfect because your Father in heaven is perfect.” But, the Trinity knows that we are made of flesh and blood and are prone to the weaknesses of our human nature. We pursue the perfection of the Father, following the example and the way of Jesus, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and inspired by the Word of God. Hence, the Lord provides us with strength from within and grace from above to pursue perfection. We are not perfect but as long as we are on the path of faith, our way is perfect. As long as we pursue perfection, we will catch up with excellence. Perfection is our destination while excellence is our constant companion. As we walk on the path of perfection, faith is like a girdle that a person used to wear into which all the upper garments were tucked into. A girdle strengthens the mid-riff. Faith gives us a similar grip on life. Purpose, power, hope, meaning, values are all tucked into this girdle. Perfectionists in this world strive unceasingly for their notion of perfection and wear themselves and others out in a tantalizing process. But the path of perfection that we walk is like the process of metamorphosis of an egg into a butterfly. Two stages of stillness alternate with two stages of activity, namely the egg and the chrysalis with the caterpillar phase and the butterfly phase. Our every day must in some way reflect this process – we must lie still in the presence of the Lord for some time to just be with Him and reflect. We must listen to His voice speaking to us during these times. Then, we must be like the caterpillar crawling around – meaning working slowly and surely to fulfill the objectives we have been set. We must also be ravenous like the caterpillar in our appetite to consume the Word in order to grow. Finally, we will be like the butterfly,ready to fly away from the trappings of sin, death and suffering- a perfect creation. Prateep V Philip

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