Hey, Nobody's Perfect!

“Hey, Nobody's Perfect....”

We say it, “Nobody's Perfect!” Yet, in the reality of our daily existence we act as though we do not believe this. Or why would we be so quick to spew condemnation of others! Or even ourselves! We say it in a contrived humility. We say it in comparison (a game which nobody wins). We say it in frustration (or disappointment in the alleged failure of a trusted mentor, or former spiritual hero). We say it in hope, perhaps, or to relieve our own pressure, or to feel that we fit in, since after all, “NOBODY's Perfect” – so that must excuse my own imperfection! Right? When our imperfections are forgiven, and are being fixed why offer excuses?

Secretly, (and some not so secretly...) all flesh believes itself to be a notch above the rest of humanity. We each have an annoying tendency to judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions! We tend to judge (and be judged) by actions because those are what we can SEE and access, that by which we can hold folks accountable! And that is not entirely unreasonable, since actions are the “Fruit” of our thoughts and beliefs, and what we are told to judge!

The difficulty comes, however, in attributing heart motive to actions, which we may or may not have seen in their entirety. Sometimes what we see is only surface, or circumstantial evidence. Sometime it is only biased reporting! We tend to make a whole trial out of one incidence sometimes, or even a troubling pattern of incidences, instead of doing the work of getting to the bottom of what is really going on with that person. A caution may be in order, but a hard judgment is not.

The issue here is NOT that we mustn't have discernment, or "judge frui" fairly, or resist judging at all costs - but that we MUST stop with the unrighteous judgment! Implying that there IS a righteous judgment which we are to find and line up with! However there are glaring errors in this process. And they are demonstrated very well on the good old social media!!!

First of all, F.Y.I. folks - I have a news flash for you all - SINNERS SIN! Ta-Da!!! So they needn't even be on our moral radar! We do not need to politically enable their sin, nor do we need to turn a blind eye, or a deaf ear to their madness! But neither do we need to try to stand aloof in some kind of self-righteous glowing spot light, comparing our glorious righteousness to their filth!

Weren't YOU a bit besmudged before the LORD began the clean up process!? I was! And HOW! Even a decade or so INTO the cleaning process I still had lots of “stuff” still hanging on me! For which I was harshly judged!!!!

We are called to be salt and light! That does not mean we rub our salt in others' wounds, and shine our bit of light in people's eyes, effectively blinding to all other light! It is meant as preservation of good, and of illumination in darkness. I can tell you this, my own perfection process would have been much swifter, and more immediately effective, if the Body of my LORD had been more welcoming and less condemning! Which leads me to the main point of this writing – WE WHO CALL OURSELVES BY HIS GLORIOUS NAME MUST STOP CONDEMNING EACH OTHER!

We are told to judge fruit to avoid taking in the bad... BUT we have been given NO authority to condemn people!!! And especially other believers! That whole bit about judging another man's servant comes into play here! The so called “Body” of THE Anointed ONE (a.k.a. “Christ” or “Messiah”), MUST STOP chewing each other to bits! There IS an “Accuser of the Brethren”! That job has been filled! Please stop applying!

And … (while we are on the subject of me and the rest of the Body) I have to remind you all that I AM YOUR SISTER IN CHRIST! It is time to get over it. Your opinions, positive or negative, of how I go about “being that” are therefore inconsequential, unscriptural, and forbidden. Get over yourselves and deal with the fact that I am not going away. So whether you deem me ahead of you or behind you, please be informed that I am still IN this race! I've been in it as long, or longer, than most of you at this point, and I am In it to WIN it! So it would behoove you to run WITH me, and stop obsessing on the list of what you'd like to see changed about me! IF God is worried about it it WILL get dealt with, no fear there! And so will your own list, btw! Mind your own business and look to the specks, and/or telephone poles, in your own eyes …. That should cover that ….

Now – please understand – I am NOT calling for a “one-world” religion or government of mindless sheeple! (Though we are very near to having that if do not wake up!) But I AM proposing that the People of YeHoVaH God, who are joined by the blood of HIS SON, Yeshua THE Anointed ONE, come into agreement with HIS WORD, line up UNDER HIS SPIRIT, and become Saturated with HIS ANOINTING OF PEACE, LOVE, JOY, etc... and begin displaying that FRUIT (Character Traits), to which we were to be transformed – TOGETHER – AS ONE! In a TRUE representation of HIM whom we claim to follow! YESHUA! We've been so busy bickering over minutia, do we even know which way He went?! It has been said that if His Anointing were dynamite the Church couldn't blow her nose! Ouch! But ... sadly ... not too far off! BECAUSE He does NOT anoint flesh! Even highly religious flesh!

"“Work for the night is coming!” has never been a more pertinent hymn! That is WORK for the night is coming" – not “Prep” for the night is coming! Nor WHINE for the night is coming! Nor despair for the night is coming! …. you get the idea! We are told to win the lost, not save our butts! (Again, reference (Matt. 10:39, 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 17:33;Jn.12:25) these seem to be coming up a lot today...).

Most of today's society – including the “Church” - seem to have fallen prey to a “Maynard G. Krebs” syndrome! Maynard was a 50's “Beatnik” (vintage hipster of “Doby Gillis” fame), whose voice would crack with terrified incredulity if he ever heard, or uttered the word, “WORK”! We seem to have become a lazy, spoiled bunch who will pay any amount to have our work done for us! And in doing so we have unwittingly sold ourselves into slavery! All the while deceiving ourselves into thinking that we have it made! Well, if your only goal is to do as little as possible in this life, and you don't mind riding the conveyer belt to hell, then fine. Stay right there in your apathetic, self-satisfied complacency. Or worse, striving yourselves to an early grave for stuff that is NOT going to provide happiness or lasting value!!! But IF you want to see GOD's KINGDOM come, On Earth as it is in HEAVEN! The we had better be moving - in HIS tracks please!!!

It is time to accept that reality which is expressed in that popular sentiment of, “Nobody's Perfect”, and let that be, not an excuse, nor a critique, but an encouragement that we are all on the path to perfection together! We have been made perfect spiritually, and that perfection is simply being worked out in us as we daily strive toward His will for us! Let US, as HIS people, seek His grace to deal with the glaring imperfections of our brothers and sisters in Messiah – and -

"Speaking the Truth in LOVE" - be sure that we are paying more attention to ways to build them up than to tear them down!

Let's pay more attention to staying present and authentic in our own perfection process, by cooperating with the Spirit of the HOLY ONE, to make US Holy as HE is Holy!

We have only ONE enemy, and, contrary to the comic strip in the early 80's, it is NOT each other!!!! We dare not forget that! GOD has given us all we need for LIFE and GODLINESS – but He has given it not to ONE group or person, but has distributed different parts of the answer to different ones, expecting us to share what we are given, and benefit each other!

I believe that as we humbly share what we have, the error of others will be automatically corrected! And as they share what they have MY error will come into Truth! I have seen this over the years! I have not just been a dreaded "Church Hopper", jumping from place to place to avoid change! I have been gleaning in each place that I was entrusted, for a reason and a season! It is a common error in religious thinking that one must give 100% devotion to ONE part of the Body! We are ALL HIS! We need to find our common ground - HIM - and focus on building there!

This is a time which brings to life for us the experiences of Nehemiah, of Joseph, of Esther, of the Macabees – all those time in which God's people, enslaved by their own disobedience and negligence, awakened to their sin, repented, and received deliverance! Deliverance is HERE! But we must work together to implement it and manifest it!

HE IS GATHERING HIS REMNANT, He is selecting His Bride! Among the “Ten Virgins” … when He comes again .... with which group will we be standing? Those who seem ready but have “run out of oil” (which represents His Life/Anointing)? Or those who are not only outwardly ready (religiously correct), but also filled with HIS Anointing, Spirit and Life....?

Are we “the Called” or “the Few”? There is no discrimination here folks. The “Few Chosen” are simply the “Many Called” who chose to show up and be changed. (Matthew 25, and 22:14 – are the scriptures referenced here, but the last few chapters of Matthew are significant to this discussion...)

“CHOOSE YOU, THIS DAY ….” ~Selah.