Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing and perfect will of God.  Romans 12:1-2 HCSB

Perfect, used as an adjective, is defined as having all of the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics, as good as it is possible to be.  When used as a verb it is defined as to make something completely free from faults or defects, or as close to such a condition as possible. Even in the definitions given us from the dictionary, they include the words “as possible”.

True perfection can only be found with God. Jesus was perfect and heaven is perfect. Someday when we go to spend eternity with God our Father, we will be perfected. We are told in 1 John 4:12 that no one has ever seen God, if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Our life here on earth is like a dress rehearsal. We want to strive for perfection, we want to strive to do everything just right. The problem comes in when we let the flesh get involved. The flesh tells us to do it our way. The flesh wants us to go along with the crowd. When we get saved the devil wants desperately to get us off track and tempts us to conform to the ways of the world, but this is not God’s will for us. Paul tells the Galatians in Galatians 3:3, “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now going to be made complete by the flesh?”  Perfection is the goal we are striving for and we can be made perfect at the time that God considers us complete. This is when we go to spend eternity in glory with Him.

The problem is that we must strive to obey God’s commands and submit to His will. I have often found in my lifetime that going against God’s will is like trying to put a square peg into a round hole. It’s a very frustrating task and it usually doesn’t work out so well. But when I submit to God’s will and do things His way, things go well for me.

Our scripture passage tells us that God’s will is good, pleasing and perfect. Going against God’s will is like swimming upstream, it’s frustrating and exhausting. Anytime we go against the will of God for our lives we are in for a rough ride. I know, I’ve been there, done that and got the t-shirt.

It took me many years to realize that God had good plans for me (Jeremiah 29:11).  It took me a long time to see that God would work everything out for my own good if I would just love Him and do what He told me to do (Romans 8:28). After many years of struggle, I finally figured out that if I could just keep my focus on God, He would take care of all that I need (Matthew 6:33).

I have been devastated in my life when I prayed and prayed and prayed for something and God told me “no.” But as time went on I realized that this was only because he had better plans for me. He knows what my future holds. He knows what will be best for me 5 or 10 or 50 years from now. He will work all that out if I will only allow Him to do so.

It’s so frustrating to me when I see someone struggling and fighting to get that square peg into that round hole knowing how much better it would be for them if they could simply let go and let God. I’m speaking from personal experience.

We may think that something here on earth is perfect, but we ain’t seen nothing yet. When we focus on God, then and only then, can we strive for perfection which will be one day be completed through Him. We will see the perfection that awaits us in Heaven.

If you are struggling and fighting to try to make things perfect, know that you are wasting your time. If what you want is against what God wants, be very careful He just may give it to you. What a mess that will be. I know because I’ve been there. Trust in Him. Proverbs 3:5-6 tell us to trust in the LORD with all our heart and not to lean on our own understanding. In all our ways acknowledge Him and He will make our paths straight.  God’s will is always perfect. So when we submit to God’s will, there are no regrets only rejoicing.

Have a great day!