Sincerely, I do not know if you have been here. Though I doubt if you have not but really the issue is not whether you have been here or not but whether you recognize this place for what it is.
An imperfect place is that place where right is not good; it is that place where nature is different from the observed. It is that place that an entrepreneur could arrive at where though he knows he is in the right business but his experience has not been a good one. It is a man looking into the eyes of his wife – the right woman, knowing that though she is right, there is still a lot that is seemingly unpleasant with her. It is the wife weeping over a misbehaving husband that she truly loves. She was right; they should be together, now it appears as if she is right and wrong at the same time.
Imperfect places are those places in our lives where it is hard to explain everything with the truth that we know; it is Mr. Job, a righteous man apparently punished by God. His friends believed only evil people get such punishments – hence Job must have sinned; so they told him to his face…just like us.
Imperfect places are akin to the recent death of a cherished minister of God who perished in a plane crash. He has been good, but apparently evil must have triumphed over him. Imperfect places, however, are everyday places; they raise questions, taunt our answers and urge us to find true and noble understanding. The critical paths of a man’s life are lived in such places – hence all men, aspiring for the best in themselves soon find themselves at this place.
WHY?
Why should things be imperfect? Why should something so right be so difficult, why would evil triumph over the good? Why do good men perish?
Is it not right that the good enjoy the good and the bad the bad? Is it not right that a noble cause be met with all that is glorious? How could Adam, made in the image of God – the first of His works be so marred by sin? Why should there even be sin in the first place?
THE ANSWERS WE GIVE
It is common to say to the drug addict who was raised by godly parents – “you caused it”. It is normal that Job’s friends insisted that he must have wronged God. It is celebrated when we pat ourselves at the back for our “perfectness” after all, “like begets like” things don’t just happen. Karma, cause and effect, something somewhere is responsible and we are quick to point fingers.
Worse when you are the one the finger is pointed at.
“I am right” we say. “I am right!” Job never believed his culpability, he was a righteous man in his own eyes. True, that is what made the scenario imperfect to begin with; it wouldn’t be an imperfect scenario if he was an unrighteous man. A woman betrayed by the right man wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t the “right” man. An ailing enterprise would not surprise us if not that it was just the “right” thing. So, most times, we stick to our righteousness – it must be God or someone that is being unfair! To Job, it was God. To the atheist – it is God!
“I got it all right, but see what He/he/she/they have done to me. See what they are saying”.
At imperfect places, because we are right, yet in a difficult, unpleasant or bad situation, we struggle to find an explanation – to either deny our “rightness” or point a finger, most times to point a finger. Sorely tempted, some have denied their righteousness completely. You must have seen this – the believer suffers some things and rejects the faith. A sincere believer struggles with a particular besetting sin and after a while says “it is not sin” or “forget it all…it is not real!” A businessman quits…the career person throws in the towel and a marriage crumbles.
It Is Not that Kind of Perfection that Is Needed
Though our world is ruled by cause and effect, by laws…it is not completely so. Someone said “it almost makes sense”. True, per time, in the human experience, it almost makes sense. Then all of a sudden, it makes no sense at all!
Though we might be accused of being wrong in such places, though we might be tempted to point fingers, there is a third option, rarely exploited. One day the disciples of Jesus came to Him with an apparently tough question – the classical imperfect scenario. “Master” they asked, “this man here was born blind, Sir, who sinned? Is it him or his parents?”
They assumed what Job’s friends assumed – someone must have sinned. Also, the question was a tough one because even if the parents sinned or the unborn child did, it still would have been an unfair scenario. An unborn baby couldn’t have sinned, hence is righteous, something as bad as blindness shouldn’t be his burden even if his parents sinned.
Jesus answered “it is not him or his parents, but that the glory of God might be revealed in him!”
Beyond our complaints and our right and wrong analysis; there is a motive that transcends this universe – the desire of God to be glorified in all flesh and in all places. It is this Divine intent that should guide us at imperfect places. Though we must search our hearts, we must be careful not to deny our righteousness and not to blame people or God, we should seek that which He could move heaven and earth to manifest – His glory. This really is the essence of humanity – which is that God wants to bring many sons to glory. Hence when we experience the imperfections of humanity – our hearts should always seek His glory!
Listen to the words of Christ at His imperfect places:
“ Now My soul is troubled and distressed, and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour [of trial and agony]? But it was for this very purpose that I have come to this hour [that I might undergo it]. [Rather, I will say,] Father, glorify (honor and extol) Your [own] name! Then there came a voice out of heaven saying, I have already glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” John 12:27-28 (AMP)
