Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48
This past week my lesson has been on the subject of compromise. More specifically, my compromises with Him. I have been alerted to the little corners I like to cut, actions and choices that are not necessarily sinful in themselves but that constitute a turning away from what I know in my heart is the Holy Spirit's quiet direction. So, when it seems I am not listening to that quiet direction, God speaks a little more loudly to get my attention.
I had chosen at random, or so it seemed to me, to take C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity to work with me on Thursday for reading on my lunch break. I love his writing, and have read this book before. But as I idly flipped through the pages while eating, I noticed some of the familiar words touching me with new significance. Lewis writes (and I am omitting some material for the sake of brevity:)
But we are hoping all the time that when all the demands have been met,the poor natural self will still have some chance, and some time, to get on with its own life and do what it likes.
...make no mistake: if you are really going to try to meet all the demands made on the natural self, it will not have enough left over to live on. ...Christ says 'Give Me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good.
Ouch. "Half-measures" is an accurate word to describe many of my decisions, though I profess to follow Christ. And my attitude, without my realizing it until now, has been just what Lewis is describing. Avoid the obvious sins, but you can still live like you want to. Example: at work. I think: "I can take a mental break here and read the news headlines on my phone. I have ample time to get my work done, so nothing will really suffer." And I do complete my work on time. But at issue here is the attitude of my heart, and my disobedience to my superiors. I have been told, as an employee, that I am to use the time given me to complete my tasks. Nothing else. And I have heard the Holy Spirit nudging me to discipline myself, and to stick to the task for which I am being paid. And still, I have compromised, at the expense of my eternal well-being. But now I am realizing that my being "good" enough is not good enough, if I truly want to belong to Christ. More Lewis:
When He said, 'Be perfect,' He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder- in fact, it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you [STEPHANIE] cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.
Checkmate. You got me, God, like You always do. But I can see that my imperfections will not stand in the way of Your teaching, and that gives me hope and makes me happy.
