Is there a point at which humanity will reach physical perfection?At some point in the future, will mankind reach a sort of utopia where there is no sickness, no sighing, crying or dying? We'd all like to believe that there is such a place, and especially that we will live long enough to see it, or maybe our children or grandchildren; it's a beautiful dream, isn't it?
If we could only return to the Garden like it was in the beginning, where man had direct Communion with God everyday and everything was right, good, and as it should be!
What a minute; what about the snake, or serpent?! We can't forget either that there was a forbidden Tree in the Garden that God planted and in which He placed His good Creation! Whether you believe that he serpent was possessed by that fallen spiritual being known as 'Satan', or whether you subscribe to the Scriptural ( and shocking? ) notion that this 'serpent' was simply a man who was outside the special Covenant that God had typologically made with Adam and his descendants; the fact that God had placed this Tree in the Garden, knowing that Adam would disobey His voice and eat of it, should give us pause!
One would almost think that God planned it that way, knowing that man, in his imperfection, would carry out His Divine Will and Purpose for His Creation! Now, don't get me wrong; I'm by no means saying that because we carry out God's Will in our imperfection, that we should, as the apostle Paul was accused of preach, 'sin more, that Grace may abound'; God forbid! All I'm saying is that we should rest in the fact that though we are imperfect, at least, according to the modern usage, God works His purpose through those imperfections, for, as the apostle also wrote that His 'strength is made perfect in weakness'.
Now, as we can see, from passages like Hebrews 10:14, we have been 'perfected forever'! This definitely is not ( by any means ) to say that we, as individuals, are perfect, at least, not according to the modern usage, but as the Body of Christ, the Body which all of the writers of Scripture had in view, we ( corporately ) have been made perfect, or complete in our fullness, in Christ. Another way to say this is that we fulfill His perfection; we fill it up daily by living our lives according to God's Law of Love!
According to the modern usage of the word, we do not fulfill God's Law of Love on a daily basis, not to mention hourly, minutely, or even secondly!
In his first letter to the churches, John wrote, 'There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love' ( I John 4:18 ); was he saying that if one fears, he does not love in truth, or was he saying that if one has fear, but casts it aside for the sake of love, that he has been made perfect in love? Earlier in this same passage, John wrote to his 'children', 'If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us'. It sound like, if we love God, and our neighbor ( brother ), that we have reached the 'Point of Perfection'!
Now, again, do we do it perfectly? Not at all! But, like a wise man said, 'we have been perfected in our imperfection'!
Will we ever reach the point of perfection, where we will never fail to always love perfectly, will we always be able to cast fear aside and love without fear? Its a nice dream, but human nature has proven time and time again that this is impossible! With God, however, we know that 'all things are possible', and it is only through and in Him ( Him in us ) that we have reached that 'Perfection Point'!
May we always remember John's words, for by loving God, and our neighbor as our self, we can be assured that we have been perfected in His Love, and that all fear has been cast aside!
Charles Haddon Shank
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