If you have not seen Word Crimes yet, you must. I implore you to watch it now:
Even as a college graduate with a degree in Communication, I can forget some of the rules in this video, and it's quite refreshing to see them brought into the limelight so that more than just grammar nerds get the benefit of this deliciously clever parody.
Not only is it entertaining and informative, but it fits with what I wanted to write about today: becoming perfect.
Here's one way that this blog resembles my life: It's full of mistakes. Some of my posts were written in a hurry and are missing a word or two. Strange sentence structures prevail in many of my posts. But the amazing thing is that I can go back and edit these posts to improve their grammar and strengthen their meaning. As I do so, I make them more complete. But weren't they already complete? See, now that is the wonderful thing about both life and blog posts - there's always room for improvement.
No one knows that truth more than Jesus, which is why he encouraged us to become perfect:
Matthew 5:48 - "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
James 1:4 - And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Without going into an insanely detailed discussion of how Jesus made it possible for his followers to be perfect, I just want to remind you that he actually did tell us to be perfect. And James alludes to the way in which we can become perfect.
James mentions letting endurance work in us. Some versions call it patience. At any rate, it sure doesn't sound easy to become perfect - it sounds like it's a long, hard road to perfection. There's a lot of growing and changing involved. There's a lot of waiting on the Lord for direction. There are a lot of humbling moments in which we recognize our faults and give them over to God.
Becoming perfect means recognizing that there is always room for improvement. Becoming perfect means a life-long education, in which you start to listen to others, learn from your mistakes, and constantly seek the Lord in prayer and through scriptures.
It's one thing to commit #wordcrimes, but it's quite another to commit #religioncrimes. Sometimes I get off-track in my walk with Christ, and need to be brought back to what the Bible actually says in order to clear any false ideas I have about how to live as an ambassador for God. It is those times when it's great to go back to the basics, the foundation of the Gospel, and start back on the path again - the path that leads to perfection - the path that leads to being complete in Christ.
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