Finished 2 Corinthians today...

Woohoo! I finished reading 2 Corinthians this morning! As I've mentioned in other posts, I'm reading the Bible from cover to cover. I started in Genesis a loooong time ago. It took a while to get through the Old Testament. Mainly because those are books I've never read before. Sure, I've read bits and pieces here and there, but reading the entire book is different. But when you read the Bible from cover to cover, you truly get the feel of it. You understand more about the times the author was living and the reason for writing the book in the first place.

One of the final verses in 2 Corinthians caught my attention today. Verse 11 in chapter 13 says, "Aim for perfection."

Hmm. Funny that I just posted about perfect lives two days ago. Is that what Paul is talking about? Having the perfect spouse, the perfect job, the perfect kids?

I don't think so.

I think Paul is talking about heart perfection. No, not low cholesterol and good blood pressure, although those are important. I think he means the deeper part of our hearts where the very essence of who we are resides. If that part of us is perfect, then the outward part will be perfect, too. We'll treat people with love. We'll do what is good and pure and right. Not what we think is right in our eyes, but what is right in the eyes of God.

How do we get this perfection? We can't do it on our own, that's for sure. I've tried and failed. Without Jesus Christ as Lord of my life--and I mean ALL of my life-- I can't be perfect. I'll miss that mark every single time. Do I still sometimes miss it? Yes. I'm human. I make mistakes. But with Jesus as Lord of my life, I recognize this flaw and work hard to fix things when I mess up. And, yes, I do aim for perfection!

Some people might think perfection sounds impossible. As it says in Luke 1:37, "Nothing is impossible with God!" Some people might think it sounds conceited. It's not, unless you take the credit for the perfection. And if you do take the credit for perfection, then it really isn't perfection after all, is it?

I've said this before. Read the Bible from cover to cover! It's truly amazing! If you haven't heard from God lately, maybe it's because you haven't been listening to His Word. If you are in the Word, great!