My Tonka Winnebago
What was your favorite toy growing up? You might expect mine to be a Barbie doll or a baby doll – but you would be wrong. My favorite toy was a Tonka Winnebago. Let me describe it for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about. It was an all metal toy RV! The colors were true to the real RV – white with a big green W that stretched along the side. It also had a pop over canopy that not only revealed the interior, but also allowed you to strategically place the perfect plastic family inside: perfect mom, perfect dad, two perfect kids and a perfect dog. I ran that RV into the ground! Seriously, I had paths in my backyard where I would push the RV for countless hours and pretend that I was part of the plastic family and that we were on some fabulous camping trip! My sweet husband actually found one on E-Bay and surprised me with it on my last birthday!
A perfect plastic person – does that describe you? Do you feel you have to put on a plastic face when you go out into your circle of friends at work or church? This world has a much different view of what perfection is compared to God’s definition of perfection. There are high expectations, especially for women, for us to look and dress perfectly. Not to mention expectations to have the perfect home, husband, and children. Demands are high and so we put on our “plastic” faces and try to bluff our way through it. We want people to think we “have arrived” so to speak.
This is not what God expects out of us. Look at Matthew 5:48:
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Now this is the standard of perfection for which we should be striving. The context of this verse involves loving not only your neighbor, but also your enemies. When we can love people without conditions, then we become more like our heavenly Father. It is important to note that this word perfection really means to be complete or having reached its end (teleios). We should constantly strive toward the standard of God’s perfection or completion, even though we will miss the mark. But as Paul states in Phil. 3:12-13, I haven’t yet arrived, but “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus..”
Quit striving for the goal of worldly perfection – it will wear you out! Press on toward Godly completion and you will not have to wear that fake, plastic face anymore. You will have a genuine love for people and will become more like your Father. Forget the horizontal pull for perfection. Lift up your head and seek the vertical (upward) call in Christ Jesus.