Perfection. That thing we are all silently striving for. Have you ever thought why? What is it about perfection that drives us as humans? We want to be the perfect parent, perfect spouse, perfect at our craft, with the perfect body, perfect teeth, perfect home, etc, etc, etc. It’s exhausting to think about, yet perfection remains this thing we all desire (whether consciously or unconsciously).
I know why.
Perfection means entirely without flaws, defects, or shortcomings. Now think about God as our Creator. Originally, He created man, the world, and everything in it, perfectly. This was our original state before the fall of Adam and Eve. And in my studies about who we are in Christ, I discovered a Greek definition of righteousness that means man as he ought to be.
In other words, who we are now (after the fall) is not who we ought to be. It’s not how God created us. Righteousness means right-standing with God, the ability to stand before Him without guilt and inferiority as if we had never sinned. Think about that. If we had never sinned, wouldn’t that make us perfect?
Yes.
And this is why Jesus came to rescue all of us. Yes, Jesus needed to deal with man’s sin problem. But the problem was that sin made us something we are not. Whereas God created us flawless, without defects or shortcomings, sin did the opposite. And the devil has had a heyday with this, pouring on condemnation, guilt, and shame– all because we are not as we ought to be.
So simply put, righteousness (dikaiosúnē) means man as he ought to be, whereas unrighteousness (adikía) means what ought not to be. So here’s the good news… “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [what we ought not be]” (1 John 1:9). This is what happened at salvation, and the promise that moves forward with us every day of our lives!
In God’s faithfulness, He fixed the sin problem. Our part is to simply go to Him in faith and be honest about our shortcomings. Then God does the rest. He forgives us and cleanses us of all unrighteousness, therefore (in His eyes) making us what we ought to be (the righteousness of God in Christ).
The world as a whole has been confused about perfection because without a knowledge of Christ, man hasn’t realized they were striving to be put back to their original condition before God. So perfection became an evil when in reality it is man as he ought to be. But sadly, even Christians, who have been restored in righteousness, unknowingly fight the devil who doesn’t want them to know about their restored condition, so he uses the sins of their past and the current condition of their flesh (which is still prone to sin) to heap guilt and condemnation on them.
It’s bogus! The devil is a liar. When you made Jesus the Lord of your life, everything wrong in your life (what ought not to be) was made right! “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Man as he ought to be. Righteousness. Christ in you.
Do you want to help others find salvation? Then instead of seeing yourself in the flesh (with your flaws, defects, and shortcomings), see yourself in Christ (as God originally meant for you to be).
Before you can ever truly reflect Christ toward others, you must first see Christ in you.
Learn more in Daphne’s book, Facing the Mirror: Finding a Self to Live With.
