Is it time to sing a new song?

Dear Friend,

I know. I've heard you. In so many ways we have that in common. We both know the same song. Different versions. Different verses. But the same song still.

What's funny about songs is once we hear the words in the wrong way, and we sing them in the wrong way, they become cemented in our minds. Ask Bruce Springsteen. The only #1 song that he wrote, "Blinded by the Light." His lyric, cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night. It wasn't until an English Band named Manfred Mann rewrote the lyrics to "wrapped up like a deuce" and played chopsticks over the top of them, that the song was actually a chart topping hit. The bigger issue? Blinded by the light had an entire generation of city kids who knew nothing about two door cars singing wrapped up like a douche, another runner in the night, Springsteen has joked that the band must have been right, since they, and not he, had the number one hit.

Sometimes the songs we sing can have the wrong words and it can truly do some damage. Consider how you and I have read these words, friend-- "Be perfect, just because your Heavenly Father is Perfect." These are Jesus words. How do we hear them? I don't want to put words in your ears. I think you have enough people around you who do that. But I can tell you how I've always heard them. For several decades, here it's stood. As if I could somehow forget, one more time, here was the forever reminder that I don't measure up. It's an eternal declaration that I am a forever failure in God's eyes. I, a sinner, and because of sinful me, Jesus, God's plan B prescription. In this light, the next chapter about prayer and the command to "not worry" have always sounded a hollow call home. Judgment? Sure, some read that passage and it helps to focus on the flaws of others, rather than looking at the scars in the mirror. But as for my money, if heaven's standard is perfection, self righteousness and the righteousness of others is a silly contest. It is like two people having a contest to see who can jump higher, only to have it revealed that their goal is to jump to the stars.

Imagine my surprise, my friend, when I finally slowed down long enough to look at the words. Translators use the principle of conciseness. They try to say the most they can with the fewest words. The other problem is that the English language does not hold nearly as many grammatical cases and tenses as other languages, say German. The fancy language is imperfect middle dative case, if you care. I don't care about the recipe, I do care about the taste of the cake. The actual translation reads "you are to be perfect" or more specifically, "you are in the process of becoming perfect" or "you are being made perfect". The word teleios, by the way, which we translate perfect, is also the word which we use to describe the end point of a journey. Those who walk with Jesus are in process, on a journey, of being made different.

Why is so important for you and I, dear one? Let's be honest. We've learned the wrong lyric. We sing the song the wrong way. And because we sing the song in the wrong way, we place the emphasis in the wrong place. Tell me I'm wrong. Read those words again. Read them the Old Way. Be perfect just as your Father in Heaven is perfect." What does that do for you? I can guess. It doesn't drive you to worship, does it? No. Instead it reminds you of the catalog of faults. The list of losses. Failures, sins, sorrows, past. Enough links in your chain to give Jacob Marley a run for his money, and you so young.

Stop. Take a breath. Is that really what a perfect parent wants for His dear child? To remind you of your scars and send you back to pick at your scabs? Does that really make sense with what you know about the heart of Jesus? Or is it time, maybe for the first of what will be 10,000 times, to remember that perfection is not your work, but His? Isn't it time we sing the song of a God who is changing us, even though there is still a lot of change that will some day be made? How about this. Let's not worry about tomorrow just yet. Let's sing that song today. Because you, dear one, have a God who delights in you. No matter what. As long as I have breath, I will remind you of that

thus Spake

me