Perfection
The pursuit of excellence is meaningful I find, and yet I see that I will never be finished (a good many of us won’t be).
Most of the things I write about come from having dealt with an issue in my life in some way. To press on to something meaningful with it or at least reach some conclusion.
And here’s the deal: I will defend what I believe with passion — not in the sense of causing an argument, but I will present my reasons and then move forward.
I used to be much shyer about revealing my thoughts on matters. But that’s okay. We live and we learn, and in doing so, we incorporate the lessons of our mistakes. Hopefully, we then go forward with them and build ourselves into something better.
The process of perfection.
There is more than enough love in the presence of the Holy Spirit to enable us to learn how to love ourselves again in the same manner Christ Jesus loves us, in stark contrast to how hard we can be on ourselves with our shortcomings.
He does not demand the perfection of our works from us solely. Rather, it is about this: it is the pursuit of the heart that He judges, not the perfection of our ways. From the consistent pursuit of excellence in Him shall the perfecting of fruit and action be realized.
This is one of the reasons I respect and love the Father: His kindness and patient wisdom are at work, leading me toward better excellence in all things. His judgment is ultimately merciful with all His pursuits of the hearts of men. He is gently and consistently softening mine to this truth.
For He withholds no good thing from His children, especially Wisdom, and Grace for life.
In Scripture, when it is written that God said, “Be holy as I am holy,” or spoke of being a distinct people under the face of the sun, so to speak, He is not asking for perfect adherence or exact imitation of His excellence. Since we are human, it is impossible to be precisely as He is, in the sense of flawless polish. Yet, in the sense of quality, faithfulness, persistence, and desire, we most certainly can be complete in Him.
Indeed, we can have a heart that fully desires to know Him and to know Him more.
The Hebrews of old had a word they used for “knowing.” That word is yada. Others have written about it, so I will just touch on it briefly. It means to know something, or someone, intimately: to know the curves and swerves of the thing in focus — not merely to know of it or about it.
It is to know something, or someone, intimately. To know the curves and the swerves of the thing in focus. Thus knowing it deeply, not merely knowing of it or about it.
I think of AI with this. We desire to model the holiness of our Father in heaven. Yet, for the entire vastness of the Word that He is — He Himself being the Word — in a lifetime, we can only train so deeply, so intensely upon Him, just like AI can only process what it is given.
They can only get better and better with more training and more refining. Such is the case with us; and this isn’t only in the pursuit of becoming more like Christ, it’s the case with any human endeavor.
Even the greatest masters remain students; for even our Father cannot help but create more. In a way, there is an incompleteness even in God, for though only He can truly finish something — as it was when His Son died on the cross to be the witness of His love for humanity — it’s not like God Himself comes to a halt.
His work is finished, yet by the Spirit it is forever unfolding and revealing itself.
I’m pretty sure Turing would like to consider this subject. He was the originator of the halting problem, a test he devised to figure out the limits of computable systems.
If you had a traveler, wandering an endless road, doubting where they’ll stop or if they’ll even continue, then you have a very good idea of what the halting problem is. It is a question that asks if there is a certain way to determine whether any given computer program, no matter how complex or intertwined its instructions are, will eventually come to an end or otherwise.
Alan Turing, in the 1930s, with his brilliant, insightful mind, found an answer to this problem. Ironically, the answer is that it is undecidable. There is no way to tell if something will halt or if it will not, by using an algorithm to determine the outcome. This applies to algorithms interpreting other algorithms, or finite state systems (systems of logic or occurrences that have a set list of parameters from the beginning that influence the outcomes of their processes).
Any question we can ask is limited in its ability to procure a slice of information in question. And any pursuit upon which we endeavor is limited in how perfect it can become.
This is more than a mere tautology; it is important for us to realize.
It is important for us to come to the place in life, in pursuits, where we go: it is good enough. There isn’t much more that we can do to make a given thing better sometimes.
And let us remember the author and the finisher of our faith. He Himself said of His work of creation on the final day, “It is very good,” and of His work on the cross, “It is finished.”
God Himself is never-ending and eternal, and yet He finishes things, and He stops speaking when He is done with the matter at hand. A bit paradoxical, don’t you think?
We share in this eternal creative process with Him, in our thoughts every day, and though we aren’t always producing something — especially something perfect — we indeed do swim in the ocean of His consciousness, shared by His hand with all living things.
God Almighty is always perfectly perfecting. The great designer of life is always finishing something. He, being the Word of Life, no word that comes forth from His mouth returns to Him void. And any work that flows from His hands carves the intended design into the bedrock of the universe.
“Know therefore that Yahweh your God Himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving-kindness with those who love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.” Deuteronomy 7:9, WEB
When we endeavor to faithfully pursue Him, His righteousness and His meaning, His wisdom, His pleasure, His understanding, and His delights, we receive the blessing even more so of His kindness.
“If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful; for He can’t deny Himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13, WEB
This is our God and Father. This is the Author and the Finisher of our faith. This is the Holy Blessed Wisdom of God from on high, the Holy Ghost, the Mother of all souls.
When we allow ourselves to surrender to His writing with us in His story, we are being perfected — never finished but eternally developed and enhanced. This, I find quite exciting.
For in His eternity, nothing is lost, and all is eternally manifesting. There is never a moment when there is nothing going on in him, for even rest is a kind of action.
At least for me, to be in this state of harmony and rest in him is… Perfection.
