Luke 6:40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.

A pilgrim on walk 1807 expressed his concern about not being perfect. I told him he was perfect today because he is exactly what Jesus needs him to be today. I did not get to explain that to him on the walk, so let this devotional be that talk.

Perfect here is the Greek word katartizo. According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon it is defined as to render fit, sound, complete by two distinct methods. A: to mend that which was broken or rent. In our faith life that is being reconciled to God, the bridge that was broken has been re-established. B: to fit out, equip, put in order, arrange, adjust. This is restoration.

To place this into a visual framework that makes it easier to understand allow me to speak about a friend of mine and his 1958 Plymouth Fury, a car similar to the one staring in the Steven King movie Christine.

He bought the car and had it hauled into his garage. This is A: reconciliation. It is now his and under his roof. When I saw the car he had washed it and put new tires on her but the car was covered with rust, tail-lights were cracked,  and the exhaust system hanging down. “She’s perfect!” He said.

Perfection here is a condition of the opinion of the owner and no one else, not even the car. She didn’t have heavy rust, everything could be re-pair, re-build, replaced, and restored to its original design. This is B: restoration.

We tend to look at perfection as the finished product while God looks at His child (us) as being perfect like this car. It is perfect in every moment, not what it was, not what it will be but perfect in the love and adoration of God, no matter how we see ourselves. Because we are His.

You are what God needs you to be today.

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Throughout walk 1807 there was this one common theme, even if it was not addressed specifically in any one of the talks. Where are you? Where are you going? What are you doing? A close self-examination is required to answer these questions.

For this example I take myself back to my teenage years in Maine. Dad had lost parts of three fingers on his left hand to an on the job accident. His settlement allowed him to buy land and build his first owned home. One day after demolition experts had blown up most of the granite ledge that needed to be removed, I found myself standing to the side watching my brother-in-law use a backhoe to break up and remove large chunks of rock. It seemed there was nothing for me to do. Then my father spoke to me.

“If you are going to be here, you are going to do something.”

He gave me a two pound sledge hammer and a chisel. To the east of the hole was a large piece of granite that did not seem to be affected by the blast. He said to me, “Break that up and remove it.”

“Can’t do that! This is a small hammer and a small chisel. What do you expect me to do?” I said.

“Well if you just stand there with hammer and chisel in hand, nothing.”

He showed me how to find a place where the chisel would rest in place and not move. No crack, no obvious way to break this huge rock. He said, “Do not strike it hard. Just let the hammer fall on the chisel by its own weight. Your hands will guide the work, but the tools will do the work.”

I broke that rock up and removed it, bit by bit, without breaking the hammer, the chisel or my arm.

What a great picture of using our God given gifts properly.