Little Miss Perfect

One of the biggest (if not the biggest) insults thrown at me definitely has to be “Little Miss Perfect.” I have been called that, or some of its variations, a few times in my life, some disdainful and some in a sneering way, but they all brought out the same reaction from me: one degree short of fury. It’s vastly annoying to be called something that you’re not, even if the person who spoke of it meant it in a good way. I remember two distinct instances when this has been slapped to my face. A friend once called me that, and I ended up having a huge fight with him that lasted for several months. Another was said in good faith. I made some boo-boo which was laughingly pointed out by some other friend, to which another quipped, “Well what do you know? She’s not perfect after all.” Urgh. I wanted to scream, “Of course I’m not perfect! I’m human, for crying out loud!”

For starters, I am most definitely not perfect. I know who I am, and I know that I have so many imperfections. I honestly believe that there is more of me that has to be changed than there is to remain the same – if there is something in me that can be like that. I am a work in progress. I never made any claim to perfection, and I probably will not utter those words in my entire lifetime. If you hear me say them, call up the mental institution so as to get me admitted there, because it definitely means I have a problem up there. Like I said, I know who I am, and what I definitely am not is to be perfect. I take it against people who call me that, especially because it’s an insult to my God by comparing me – however mockingly to me– to Him. Only He is perfect. God alone. Not me, not you, not anybody who is human (except Jesus, but He’s fully human and fully divine at the same time).

It’s true that we try to emulate Jesus as Christians. As Galatians 2:20 says, “I live, no longer I but Christ who lives in me.” But our fall is almost always inevitable, because we’re humans, and being humans, we sin. There is no one who can claim to be sinless forasmuch as he remains human, because everyone sins. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” All. The verse didn’t say, “Oh about twenty million have sinned, but the rest are A-OK.” No. All sinned. Checking out an earlier verse in the same chapter, it says “All have gone astray; all alike are worthless; there is not one who does good, not even one” (Rm 3:12). All of us have fallen short. If in the unlikely possibility that we haven’t sinned yet in our lives, it (sin, that is) will remain as an inherent possibility in our lives, because it’s in our nature, rooting back to the time Adam first fell in the Garden of Eden.

We are all tainted by sin, and no amount of good works, without Jesus, can attain our salvation. It is an insult to Jesus Christ if we claim that we alone can save ourselves, that our abilities are sufficient to grant us our freedom from sin. We claim that, and we might as well say that His sacrifice is worthless. If we could save ourselves, do you honestly think that He still would have died on the Cross for us? If there was any other way, would someone, even God, choose the hardest way just for the heck of it? No. He did it because it’s the ONLY way for us to be saved. We don’t deserve it, and He didn’t have to do it, but He still did. He could have allowed us to boil in our own fat, but He got the ladle and scooped us out. He died in our place, and that’s because of His love for us (Rm 5:8).

It’s all about Him. We are Christians because of Him. He is the One who called us to the Great Commission. He is our Lord, our Father, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Strength, our Refuge, our Worship, our everything. It’s all about God and never about us. How can we claim to be better than other people when our being does not lie upon ourselves but on Him (Eph 2:8-9)? How can we say that we are greater believers than other people can claim to be, when we believe in the same God (Ti 2:14)? How can we say that the way that we follow, the way that we live our lives is the only right path, when Jesus says He is the only way (Jn 14:6)? How can we say we are stronger in faith when He is the one who provides that strength (Phil 4:13)?

A trap we are in danger of falling into is that of self-righteousness. Our noses might be so high up in the air that we endanger scraping it on the ceiling. We think so highly of ourselves that we (1) forget that it’s not out of our own success that we are saved, but by His grace; and (2) commit sin by doing so. Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather humbly regard others as more important than yourselves.” Of course, it’s not false humility where we go, “Ok, I will see them as higher up than I am, but in the end, I get all the inheritance of heaven while they get nothing! Hah!” No. It’s not about doing it for the sake of getting something in return. Not only is that self-righteous, but selfish to boot. We do it not for whatever we might receive, but we do it because we love Him, plain and simple. It’s not about gratification. Isn’t His love enough? How greedy are we, wishing for something more when He gave us everything that He is already!

This brings the second danger we might fall into: the trap of believing what the world, what mankind teaches. The reason why we should always be steadfast in faith is because we might fall into this trap, and if we’re not wary and do not know better, we end up caught hook, line, and sinker. It’s easier to discern what the world teaches: all about gratifications of the flesh. What is harder is what man teaches. God uses men as His instruments to bring people closer to Him. However, there is the scary truth of modern-day false prophets. They say things that sound so true yet are totally false. What is scarier are those that are hugely true, but put in a dash of falsity in it, and it’s toxic. Deception is popularly known to be 99% true, 1% false. Scary thought, isn’t it? How will we know then? By listening to God, by remaining in Him. It’s not enough that we go through the Bible once and that’s it. It’s a daily commitment to be with God, and it’s also daily that we should be nourished by His Word and by His presence through prayer.

The truth is, we are in a state of war that has been going on since time everlasting. Another truth is, we can choose to be soldiers in that war, instead of remaining as unconcerned passerby. The truth is, we can’t be unconcerned passerby, not in this war, because one way or the other, we will be affected, and in ways whose proportions we can’t even imagine. We can’t remain in our own protected bunkers waiting for the bomb to hit us. Sure, damage to us won’t really be extensive, but we won’t really be able to do anything else either. What do we do then? We fight. We should also never forget that we are not alone in this battle. We are with Him, and we are also with His other children. That’s why we should always encourage and support each other (1 Th 5:11) instead of looking at each other with jealousy or whatever. And we do it not through what we can do, but what He can do through us. If it’s just us, we will surely fall. With Him, all things are possible (Mk 10:27).