PERFECTION
by Trish Green
Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy. Leviticus 19:2(New International Version)
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48(NIV)
What do you know about computer code?
I never imagined the thousands of lines of code that goes into a simple website until I began my course of studies at Schoolcraft College. I took a course titled "HTML" (that’s Hyper-Text Markup Language … and it’s the basic coding behind everything you see on the computer screens these days.)
The first thing I learned, is that the code must be perfect.
I stare at the lines of computer code, my head aching. This code is not perfect.
body bgcolor="#73889C"
table width="820" border="0" align=center cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
background="images/lookatme.jpg">
trtd colspan "3"img src="images/immoreimportantthanyou.jpg" idth="842" height="57" /a src=”http//www.mememe.com />/td>/tr
width="104" align="left" valign="top">
img. src.="images/itsallaboutme.jpg" width=97 height="232" >/tr>
Staring at these lines, I’m wondering why my images are off-center and the links don’t work. I meticulously compare every single letter, space and punctuation mark between the book and what’s on my computer text pad.
There’s a missing quotation mark.
Here’s an extra period.
I sigh. Why can’t the computer read ‘typo-errors’ like my brain does?
This code must be perfect. Every keystroke correct, every backslash in place.
Not close enough. Not one space off. Perfect. The computer only recognizes PERFECT CODE.
I certainly make my share of mistakes, especially while I’m still learning. My touch-typing skills may impress my children, and I know when my fingers fumble while I’m typing words or even numbers, but when I type computer code, I must scrutinize, scan and screen every keystroke. The code must be perfect or it doesn’t work.
Jesus stressed this same concept when He said, "Be perfect… as your Father in heaven is perfect." He didn’t say, "Oh, it’s okay if you let that hateful thought cross your mind. As long as you don’t say it out loud, you’re good." He never mentioned, "Go ahead and look at other people and their belongings with envy or lust, just don’t act on those thoughts."
He said, "Be perfect."
God demands perfection in every area of our lives. Our thoughts, words and deeds. This isn’t just a New Testament concept. When God created, He created perfection. (He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. Deuteronomy 32:4 [italics mine]) Everything about Him is perfect... and He demands that we be perfect in order to stand in His presence.
Yet, we are sinful. Our human nature takes everything that strives for perfection and flings it into the mire of mediocrity.
Nothing we possess, do or think is worthy of the Author of perfection... except that seed of faith in His Son. Jesus is our perfection. Jesus is what God sees when we accept Him as the author, the ‘coder’ of our lives. And when God sees us through Jesus, we “have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body … let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience.” (Hebrews 10:19-20, 21-22)
Bible study, fellowship with Christians, church service on Sunday mornings look great to the world.
But that hidden grudge nursed with self-pity and a hard heart eat away at the inside. These are the things that keep us separated from our heavenly Father. Everything might look good on the surface, but we’re falling apart on the inside.
Our links don’t work and our images are off-center.
Jesus is the code we need in order to get our lives to run correctly. When the code’s perfect on the inside, everything runs well on the outside. Sometimes I have to meticulously compare my life, my attitudes and my thoughts with those of my Creator. I usually find something missing, or something I added that doesn’t belong there. Then I have to ask Jesus to ‘re-code’ my heart.
So … how does your code work lately? If it’s not perfect, call on Jesus. He’s the only one who can fix our flaws and make us perfect, just as God demands.