Striving for Perfection

Have you ever found yourself striving for perfection and then feeling the disappointment when it's not attained?

We live in a world where we can pay money to have a cosmetic surgeon "fix" our flaws in order to create the "perfect" look. It seems many are striving for perfection - at least on the outside. I find myself observing this phenomenon to have the perfect features (I'm still trying to figure out what the criteria is for perfect). I wonder if and when the pendulum will swing the other way and we'll find ourselves living in a society where faces once again move when you smile, saggy skin and wrinkles are welcomed, and aging gracefully is not only welcomed but embraced. 

I also find myself wondering when we'll realize that true perfection in our world will only be attained once Jesus returns. We live in a fallen world where sin entered when Adam and Eve sinned. Sometimes my heart longs for a world which existed "pre-apple" - before Adam and Eve sinned. (I know the fruit Eve ate was likely not an apple, but "pre-fruit" sounds a little odd in my ears). I'm someone who longs to hear the perfect final chord in a song and who desires to have things look "right" and balanced.

I also realize that part of my desires reveal the God-given longings for heaven. It's a challenge to hold the tension between feeling a little off and longing or striving for perfection and knowing that will only come when I stand in the presence of the holy, awesome and almighty maker of heaven and earth.

Maybe the next time I see someone with cosmetic surgery I need to pray for their God-given longing for heaven.

Rev 21:21-27 says, "The main street of the City was pure gold, translucent as glass. But there was no sign of a Temple, for the Lord God—the Sovereign-Strong—and the Lamb are the Temple. The City doesn't need sun or moon for light. God's Glory is its light, the Lamb its lamp! The nations will walk in its light and earth's kings bring in their splendour. Its gates will never be shut by day, and there won't be any night. They'll bring the glory and honour of the nations into the City. Nothing dirty or defiled will get into the City, and no one who defiles or deceives. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life will get in." The Message