THE PERFECT IMPERFECT

The room for improvement has no egress; all it has is an entrance; and in there, you can always see the horizon! Gina Bello 

THE PERFECT IMPERFECT  

Philippians 3 vs12 – Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

Vs 13 – Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. 

Vs 14 – I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 

Each and every one of us may harbour a dream, be filled with a desire, or have set resolutions or goals to attain. In the pursuit of these, we may come headlong with failing moments – obstacles of progress, or our own hindering blunders. Being fallible, we fumble and almost perpetually have to face our imperfection, as it gapes daily at us. This can be frustrating, especially when progress and accomplishment appear afar off. On the contrary, we may have a feather in our cap – accomplishments that can be traced to us. However, should we even have made great progress, there is still an insatiable desire in man to achieve more than he already has. A need to produce better results, or explore a new thing/area altogether. We are therefore daily hoping to approach a perfect end – staggering or with a stride. 

Paul in the above scriptural verses, after asserting his imperfection, uses exemplary teaching to encourage us not to lose heart. We must endeavour to fight on until our dreams materialise. In pressing on, it will be prudent to set goals, readily put measures in place to get us to our goal/destination, to organise ourselves, and to work steadily to achieve our aim. Whether succeeding or failing, we must dream on! When a man stops dreaming, he dies! We should have something to live for; to look up to each day. In case we are drained out, with no purpose to focus on, we can pray to God to help us birth a new dream, as there is a reason for our being on earth. We must strive to fulfill our destiny.

It is expedient to leave the past behind in order to embrace the future. We must deliberately part with our very past – shame and/or glories. We should have the mindset to rise from every fall; to dream again; to not wallow in our successes as we may gloat and be bloated with pride and explode together with our very achievements. 

Philippians 3:15a – Let us therefore as many as be PERFECT, be thus minded. This is the ultimate! As imperfect as we are, our beings are lined with elements of perfection. We are God’s perfect creation in imperfect jars of clay. Our perfection lies in our ability to accept our imperfection, and reach out to God for strength to make an impact with our lives – just as we are! We should persevere and fight to accomplish our dreams. We must learn to put the past behind us and expect the sun to shine on each new day. We need to fill our hearts with faith and hope for tomorrow, and depend on God to cause us to smile. Once we are able to do all of the above, we shall become perfect imperfects – the handiworks of a perfect creator!

SILENCE IS GOLDEN

Proverbs 17:28 - Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue. 

I can vividly remember one quiet evening; I had cried my eyes out. I was down in the dumps, feeling so empty and troubled at heart. I had been continuously ill, had missed a lot of lectures, and was living in fear that I was accursed. My roommate had attempted consoling me; she kept on babbling about why I needed to be strong and cease crying. How it was wrong for me to behave as though God was not on my side, and how I needed to take my mind off my present condition. All she said was mere noise in my ears. To me, she was rubbing it in. Her words felt like a knife that was turning in my wound. I wanted to scream at her to shut up, but there was no strength in me. I was virtually spent. All I could do was cry out my emptiness, which I did passionately. 'No one understands,' I kept mumbling. 

Then a cousin of mine popped in to visit. He saw I was distressed and came to sit by me, he didn't utter a word, and all he did was give me a hug. As he held me, I let out uncontrollable sobs, he rubbed my back and said repeatedly -'all is well.' I felt tremendously consoled. Within minutes, I’d wiped my eyes, and started to share my emptiness in words. He listened attentively. His silence and rendered attention meant so much to me. I felt a new surge of strength within me. I suddenly felt ready to move on. This day taught me a vital lesson that silence consoles and is golden. 

There are times that we are put in a difficult position of having to comfort someone mourning. Such times are precious and our words and actions can ease or add to their pain. When we are not certain of what to say; when they already know all we can say, let's learn to sit silently with them. Such silent re-assurance speaks volumes. Words can be cumbersome when we are mourning. But there is a comforting touch in silence shared in love. God loves Jesus, but when Christ was on the cross, God was silent. There wasn't much He could say to ease Jesus' pain at that moment. The pain Jesus was facing was much needed, as much as it tore at God's heart, He could only console Him in silence. There is a pain no man can heal except the Spirit of God. Jesus said the Holy Spirit will be our comforter. When we have to console someone, let's ask God's Spirit to help us. In doing so, He'll give us the words to say, or will simply beckon to us to silently console or mourn with our loved ones. 

The power of silence to console is beyond our comprehension. We must discern when to exercise this power, and explore its wonders. Ecclesiastes 3:7b - There is a time... to be silent and a time to speak.

THE MAP

We indeed are in a battle, a battle where we cannot see far on our own. We cannot see far if we stand with the devil because he blindfolds us and ensures we bask in deceit. When we stand with God, He shows us what He thinks is useful to us at each point in time. He reveals what is essential. As we seek Him continually, He leads us besides still waters. There is something about God's leading; He leads us in ways in which we need wisdom to understand. We can only perceive His will when we understand God's language. There are times that God will show you much about your future, there are other times he would not show you certain aspects of your future until you get there. 

Sampson and John the Baptist had their births and purposes announced. Moses had to grow past 40 to know his purpose. I guess he had no inkling who he was. We cannot always be too sure what God wants us to do in the near future. We must not be too sure we know it all for He can surprise us like he did the people of Israel, when he changed from the old covenant to the new covenant. The Israelites failed to perceive the change of direction, because they were hooked to a particular perception as to how God wanted them to lead their lives. We must be flexible in God's hands, so He can lead us wherever He feels there's need for us to be. 

Our lives are mapped before Him, but He gives us the end, and reveals the actual contents in dribs and drabs. We will be fooled to know the end and assume the way, and think we know all about our lives. There may be things God is about to use you for that you have never heard from anywhere. You must draw closer to Him, and like relying on a map, rely solely on Him. Search within you and find out some of the passions you had when you had your first love. Most of them are pointers to certain aspects of your future. God gave you a prayer unction in those times for a purpose, and a hunger for His word for a purpose. You can only know from God for what purpose He has called you. We are deceived to think the work of God is for some 'called' people. But dear, God used the woman at the well to spread the good news, and God used Philip and Steven. God has mightily used available people through the pages of History. God is gathering his own and calling them together to stand in their respective ranks as in Joel 2. Please find your place in this army, because whoever happens to be in the wrong place can be badly harmed by the foes.

Let me end by telling you about the worth of obeying God. Whenever you sense God tugging at your heart to do something, do not hesitate, obey God pronto! Because you may not know the danger ahead. Juanita Bynum told us about a major conference she was supposed to hold. Thousands had paid for it, and they had spent thousands of dollars to plan it all. Then at the eleventh hour God told her to cancel it. She was openly confronted by her co-workers who were agitated by her decision. But she stuck to her guts. On the set date there was a hurricane that killed lots of people. The selected rented place for the conference was the first to be evacuated. The hurricane continued for days and ended on the set last day of the conference. If she hadn't obeyed God, a lot of God's children would have died pre-maturely. Let this story minister to you about the essence of obeying God. Let him that has ears hear what the Spirit is saying!!!

YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE PAST BUT CAN DESIGN TODAY

Isaiah 43 :18 -19 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. 

We cannot continue to cry over spilt milk. Neither can we continue to wake the dead. Somethings cannot be reversed, try as we will. We can only accept them, and continue from there. Is it a relationship that ended abruptly? Are you still angry over a loss? Planning a revenge? Wanting to prove a point to someone that offended you? 

There may be innumerable and varied reasons why someone is brooding over the past. Waiting to hatch an egg that may not even be present. No matter how logical your reason may be, or how engrossed you are with your past, it definetely would not add to today. Because fact is, merely paying attention to what was or could have been, is no way of building what is. 

What is done today is what can determine what will be tomorrow. So instead of wasting away on interactions with the past, begin to design today, and take control of tomorrow. There is nothing wrong with allowing the past to reprimand you, but don't let it stifle you. Learn from it and move on to designing a better today. Your very input today will bring beauty to your life. Therefore focus on today, on what you can do to make it beautiful, in spite of your yesterday.

DON'T LOOK BACK

Many of us are familiar with the story of Lot's wife. When God rescued Lot and his family from the sin -torn Sodom and Gomorrah, the angel of the Lord instructed them not to look back - Genesis 19 : 15 - 26. 

Lot's wife was probably obsessed with the seemingly glories of Sodom that she was tempted to look back, and turned into a pillar of salt. In our own lives, we may have made accomplishments, attained numerous qualifications, or even secured ample possessions. However, like Lot's wife, God is asking us not to look back at these glories of the past, in order to be able to enter into His promise for the now. Our destination is still ahead. 

God is the one leading us into His glorious inheritance. He daily loads us with benefits. The manna for today is not from the dregs of yesterday' s manna, but is freshly given us each day. We must therefore thank God for yesterday's manna, and believe Him for today's. Unless, we learn to part with all that we glory in from the past, we will become complacent and our growth and progress stagnated, just like the pillar of salt Lot's wife turned into. 

Praise God for Sodom and Gomorrah, for His deliverance, blessings and provision, but mentally and wholeheartedly leave behind the glories of Sodom, so you can embrace God's inheritance.