Is Anyone Perfect?

When I was a child, I thought adults were perfect. It was only kids like me that did bad things such as lie about having brushed my teeth when I really hadn’t or pretending I didn’t hear my mom calling.

When I became an adult, my childhood imaginations evaporated. Even the dream of being loved totally and unconditionally by another. But that was one fantasy I should have kept alive.

Because that kind of perfect love does exist. The perfect Father loves His perfect Son (Jesus) with a flawless love. That’s not difficult for me to accept, but in John 15:9, Jesus explains that He channels this overflowing, amazing love to His flawed followers: As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.”

That truth stops me in my tracks.

How can that be? I can’t begin to comprehend such a love. That Jesus would love me with the same perfect, unconditional, eternal love that His Father loves Him. That kind of love is so foreign to me, so beyond what I would ever expect or receive from a human.

The awe of Jesus’ love fills my heart with elation and wonder, it blurs and fades the little things of this life that drain my time, energy, and focus. It infuses a sense of gratitude, of humility (because there was nothing I did to deserve it), and of peace (knowing this is the ultimate treasure). Yes, it even turns my selfish eyes from “mine” to “others,” unlocking the door to joyfully desiring to minister.

It’s so easy to lose the reverence of God’s love, to strip it of meaning. It’s so easy to gloss over this perfect love, to believe all love is flawed.

Perhaps I need to return, in part, to my childhood assumptions and accept that Father is perfect. To create a culture where it’s easier to bask in His unconditional love. How does God's absolute love affect you?