THE PARADOX OF PERFECTION

KEY VERSE: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

  Jesus had a long conversation with the apostles before He was crucified. He first spoke in riddles then plainly. He spoke those things to still their hearts with peace. Despite tribulation, peace can be had in the world.

  Examine yourself; are you at peace? Personally, I am not because the world is tribulation. Just what is “tribulation?” It is the stress that you are having right now. It is caused by oppression and persecution — carrying a burdensome load and harassment, respectively.

  Examine the most stressed groups today. Protesters feel oppressed. The terrorist mob does not. They feel powerful and are making a show of it. The mob stresses the population. They are angry revolutionists who want power. The stress that they feel is hatred of the system, and relief for them is overcoming the world. With that, they seek socialist Utopia.

  Utopia is a fantastical world; “A place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). For Utopia to exist because it would be perfect, the inhabitants therein must all be perfect. The quiz for today: Name one perfect person. For the socialists, there answer must be one of two; There is none. Or perhaps they might say, All those like me.

  Is the mob perfect? Is even one person in the mob perfect? Ironically, none in the mob would be allowed into a Utopian world for the minute that person entered, it would become imperfect. Therefore, Utopia is so far out there that it must be “an imaginary and indefinitely remote place” (ibid).

  Surprise socialists! With you there, Utopia is no more than a fantasy. With you there, it is worse than what you have because you are a “bad dude” who destroys systems.

  If there is no Utopia in the world, what then is there? Tribulation: stress, oppression, persecution, inhumanity, hatred, and falsehoods. This world has too much tribulation and not enough peace! However, open your mind and examine socialist societies. Think about revolutionary France, Bolshevic Russia, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, repressive China, and chaotic Venezuela. Those socialist countries are the Utopian (sic) societies in the world. If you think there is oppression and persecution now, just wait until Marxists rule!

  All governments provide tribulation because people despise authority. The most authoritarian were the totalitarian monarchies. Socialism resulted from aristocracies. Imagine a society without tribulation; it is so far removed that it is nothing more than an unobtainable dream, yet enlightened (sic) people still seek it. Certainly, Utopia could never be reached by violence because then it would exist of two groups of people: (1) Oppressors and (2) the oppressed. Utopia, if it is reality, would be totalitarianism revisited, and each time socialism has progressed, it turns out that it is worse than what was there before.

  Revolution and violence are not the way to peace, rest, and tranquility. The mobs in the nation are having a surrealistic pipe dream. They know what they seek is unobtainable using their methods. In other words, socialist revolutionaries are irrational insane people.

  Those white privileged and black powerful revolutionaries are insane, and their insanity is the tribulation most obvious in the world. They are driving themselves insane, but they will not go down alone. They intend to take the entire world insane and go down for their impossible dream. There is no Utopia in earth, so people have insurmountable obstacles and unrealistic goals. That leads to more stressful tribulation in their minds. The harder they try for the “perfect society” the further away it becomes!

  Jesus referred to “these things.” Of what things was He speaking? “These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” (John 16:1-2).

  The Christians will be persecuted and killed, and those who do those things, think they are doing a service. Apply that to Jesus. When He was crucified, the mob thought they were doing God and society a service. They thought that they were doing Herod a service and Caesar as well. The very people that socialists treat as if they are sub-human parasites, treated Jesus in that same manner. Jews were an annoyance and inconvenience to the autocracies and were for all socialist movements. The epitome of Jewishness, Jesus by Name, was the most annoying and inconvenient to the mob.

  Because Jesus lives, Christians shall live. Because Jesus was persecuted, Christians shall be persecuted. Life, for a Christian, is tribulation. It is endured by hope that their lives will be turned around; that rather than dissension, there will be peace in earth. Christians hope for their own “utopian” Paradise. That is how Christians can live now and face tomorrow. Perhaps because Christ provides hope and neither Marx nor Caesars do, that is why Christians are persecuted.

  Have you ever met a person so unhappy with their own lives that they resent yours? That is socialism. They fail to value their life but envy yours. Why are black people protesting? They want “white lives” — not to necessarily be white but live like whites. One thing they are missing; white people live in tribulation as well. Everyone is in chains! Everyone, that is, except true Christians. Everyone is oppressed and put down. Rather than be like “whitey,” blacks and disenchanted people of all races should want to be like Jesus.

  But Jesus was persecuted and killed; why would people want to live like that? Because He was triumphant over evil, evil-doers, the world, Satan, and death. Christ lived, and life is less tribulation with Christ. Death is gain because it is escape from hatred and tribulation.

  Jesus told the apostles, “Be of good cheer!” How could they be cheerful; they were about to face their own personal and “Great Tribulations.” All the apostles suffered death for Jesus, excepting John who was spared and only boiled in oil (Foxe’s Book of Martyrs).

  How can anyone be cheerful knowing that the mob killed Jesus unjustly, that they themselves must die for the cause of Jesus? And that in the interim, they will be persecuted? How could they even be cheerful knowing that loved ones were going to Hell? Because Jesus overcame the world. Jesus made it through with majesty, and Christians shall also overcome the world.

  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. (Mat 10:22-23)

  Overcoming the world is enduring tribulation. How can the world be overcome? By enduring hatred. Christians should feel hated right now. If anyone is elated by what is going on in the world, they cannot be Christians.

  Why are Christians hated so intensely? Because theirs is the only true hope for Paradise. When Christians present themselves cheerfully in the face of the mob, the mob should be envious. Christians vicariously have what the mob only seeks by violent means. “Vicariously” is with great anticipation. Christians already enjoy the fruits of Christianity and the mob the fruits of sin. The anger you see… that is one of the many fruits of the evil spirit.

  Endurance requires perseverance in the face of persecution. No one enjoys being hated.

  Now for a personal testimony: I am hated. I am hated by some family members and those who I once considered friends. I am an imperfect Christian and a work of God in progress. With many imperfections, I would never fit into a socialist Utopia any better than the mob. Neither would I fit in nor deserve Paradise.

  Because I look to Jesus to defeat evil and the evil-one, knowing that I cannot do so on my own, Jesus will regenerate me to God’s original design when He generated the first man. All I need to do is stand still in the water as He washes me clean and fits me with a new coat of flesh.

Jesus already provided the animal for my new clothes. His Flesh will be my flesh because He was made sin for me (2 Cor 5:21) and had enough to go around for all those who trust His Flesh for safety!

  Some Christians even hate me. Why? Because their doctrine is perceived as more correct than my own. Personally, I endeavor to have no personal doctrine because the Doctrine of Christ is my doctrine.

  Some family members either hate me or lack respect. Why would that be? Because they know that I am imperfect. I never will be until I am glorified and made perfect. Are they perfect? All have sinned and come short of glorification.

  Glorification is perfection. Glorifying God is seeing His Perfection. Others cannot glorify me because I am imperfect. Only God can glorify me, and He will do that in Glory. Until then, I depend on Jesus’s blood and water to grow toward perfection. Like Utopia, that is a far away dream, but is my hope. I can never make myself perfect, and certainly Mr. Marx cannot, but Jesus can and will. The last stage of regeneration is glorification wherein sinful Larry is made entirely good just as Adam and Eve in the beginning!

  Why did the multitude hate Jesus? Because He was perfect. Why do people hate me? Because I am imperfect. The paradox of perfection is that imperfect people hate imperfect people but do not hate themselves. That paradox coincides quite well with Popper’s Paradox of Tolerance; that it is okay to be intolerant of the intolerant to eliminate intolerance.  Some of my own loved ones who are intolerant think they are doing God a good service by diminishing their love for me. Those loved ones have been trapped in the mindset of socialist doctrine. Popper, George Soros, and the mob would be proud of their “Doublethink!”

  “Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less” (C.S. Lewis). My response to that is, “Wisdom is not thinking you are perfect, but knowing that you are imperfect.” According to scripture it is, “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Mat 7:2). People measure themselves with false scales and others with true scales. Friends, family, and enemies… just like me, you too are imperfect!