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WHISPERS TO AND FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT

Seeking Perfection

Lord, why is it
that in loving you
I must seek perfection.
How difficult it is
to seek something
that cannot be had
on this side of heaven.
Do you realize
how much of a challenge
it is for an imperfect
soul to seek perfection?
All the falls from grace,
the deadly sins,
the attacks of Satan
and the ways of the world
become obstacles.
Nevertheless, I walk
the perfection path
with love and loyalty to you.
Beaten, bruised, yes worried
for sure, but, Lord, I walk
the path of perfection anyway,
for I am fueled by my faith.
I am led by the Holy Spirit,
step by step with one goal,
and that is that at the end
of the path, I will bask
in the perfection, I seek

Dr. Don’s Reflection

This is the most difficult part of my spirituality. The Christian faith is based on becoming like Christ. So my walk with Christ is to create less of me and more of him. That is to say, I become more like Christ as I mature in my spirituality.  Becoming like Christ is my Christian goal. The bottom line is I do not believe I can achieve the perfection of Christ in this world.  Yet, I still pursue it in my walk with him.  It is so difficult for me to pursue a goal that I know I cannot reach. 

I would not seek to become a ballet dancer because first of all, I would not want to do it and secondly, I am not built for it and third I simply would not have the discipline and strength to practice so I could become good at it. So since I know I could not achieve the goal of being a ballet dancer, why try?

Well if I applied this reasoning to become perfect like Christ, I guess I would say why try?  I know I cannot become perfect like Christ but there is a difference and that is why I walk the walk.  Unlike the goal of becoming a ballet dancer which I would not want to be, I do want to be perfect like Christ.  I know I will never reach it on this side of heaven but I want it and each day I seek his perfection.  Unlike the Ballet Dancer goal for which I am not built, I am built to be like Christ because I was baptized in him and given the Holy Spirit. I was chosen to walk and work with Christ but not to do it alone so he sent me the Holy Spirit who is my direct link to Jesus Christ and Father God, and he is from whom I get my strength and discipline.

I am trying to tell you how hard it is for me to reach the goal of being perfect like Christ, particularly, when I am so sure that I can never reach that goal on this side of heaven.  And therein lies my motivation for I am sure that if I work and walk with Christ in this world that he will, in the next world grant me the perfection that I seek.

The bottom line is I may not reach my goal of perfection in this world but I will die trying so I will be given it in the next.

Dr. Don’s Comments

Sometimes it is startling to realize you are not living a perfect life.  We all have a certain amount of perfectionism in us.  Are you a perfectionist? Does it drive you crazy when you do something and it does not come out perfect?  Do you have to go back, once, twice, three times to make what you are doing is perfect?  I know the feeling.

One of your first realizations, in your walk with Christ, is that you are not perfect. You see when you walk with Christ you are always measuring yourself against perfection. For Christ is perfection, So when you say you want to be like Christ, you are saying you want to be perfect.  Yet you know reaching that perfection on this side of heaven in our state of humanity is not going to happen. So why try? 

One reason is for the love of God. Under any other circumstances if you knew you could not achieve something, I mean you really felt it was impossible, you would say forget it.  But when you seek the ways of Christ and his perfection you are doing so because of your love for Christ and not to simply achieve something. 

It is not ambition but your love of Christ which keeps you going.  At some point in your walk, you realize that you are not alone.  You are being helped by Jesus Christ himself through the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is vital to your walk with Christ.  As you can read in the Bible he is a counselor, comforter, advocate, and teacher. He also convicts us and is not afraid to tell you that you are going wrong or have gone wrong.  Without the Holy Spirit, there is no way you can have an honest spiritual walk with Christ. You must invite the Holy Spirit to accompany you on your walk with Christ and if you are already walking with the Holy Spirit with and towards Christ you must ask for renewal in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is key in reaching out for the perfection of Christ and knowing you will never get there on this earth. However, the Holy Spirit will get you as close to the perfection of Christ that you can get on this earth and when you are received by Christ and presented to Father God you will be given the total perfection of Christ. Christianity is seeking the perfection of Christ. It is that simple or better said for me, that hard.