Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise…? Hebrew 7:11

On vacation my kids found an old game I’d forgotten about called Perfection.  If you do not recall, a timer is set and you have an undisclosed amount of time to set the puzzle pieces in place as the loud countdown ends, scattering the pieces and scaring you.

What sadistic toy manufacturer thought of this game for children?

Picture the meeting of executives sitting in a smoke filled bored room. (the game technically started in 1973, but still, picture Milton Bradley guys meeting back then MadMen style…isn’t that what 1973 was like, I wasn’t born):

• Guy 1:  “Hey guys, you know what, the boss gave us a deadline to come up with a new game…clock’s ticking…I have not slept well recently worried about getting this perfect.”
• Guy 2: “Okay, okay, gotta focus. I have been worried about getting my kids into the right school.  I just cannot seem to figure out where to place them…one of thems sorta starry, the other is more of a blockhead…where do you all think they should go?”
• Guy 3 (cause back then it was dudes who came up with these games, right?):  “Well…pass me another cigarette would you…the doctor was telling me the other day…[hack] [hack] that something is wrong but he will have to run some more tests and then let me know…so my hearts pounding a bit right now, and these palms just cannot stop sweating.”
• Young Intern 4 (From under the table): “Anyone see where I dropped my draft number?  It’s either an L or 7, I’m not really sure.”
• Guy 5 (sitting in the corner, rocking): “tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.”
• Guy 6 is just an empty chair cause he just got fired but everyone has forgotten about him anyway.
• Guy 1:  You guys are brilliant…this right here could be the game for kids…Let’s make them feel the reality of life’s harshness.  Let’s get them when they are young and impressionable to feel the pressure of life ticking away.  They could discover the unsettling discomfort of unpreventable calamity.  The anxiety of trying to get everything perfect, and the fleeting enjoyment of having set the pieces of life in place for a milisecond before life explodes and scatters them all over the place anyway.”

Then what sadistic marketer said “and lets call it Perfection? Our commercial could have a brother pointing and laughing at his sister when she screws up, and the dad could look like he is falling over with a heart attack when he gets surprised. Cut, Wrap, Print.”

Perfection is the concept our culture pushes at us.  Attaining the perfect body, the perfect relationship, the perfect job, the perfect grade.  So we jump around from diet to diet, person to person, job to job, city to city–looking for perfection before the timer runs out.

Scripturally, though it is interesting to note that Perfection is not up to us.  Hebrews 7:11 is a bit weird out of context but basically it is saying–if perfection is attainable through your ability to follow the rules, then why was Jesus even necessary?

Scanning further down we come to Hebrews 7:22 which says, “This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.”

(To overkill the bad analogy) Picture the Trinity sitting in their board room and them look at His creation.  They knew the pressure we had placed upon ourselves in the Garden by trying to take control, tossing the pieces of life around and then desperately putting the pieces back together.

Jesus knew we would make a mess of our life, scattering the pieces here and there, hurting others, lossing some, taking some from the people next to us.  And so rather than creating some game for us to see if we can do it good enough to earn our way back to Him, the Trinity decided enough’s enough.

Jesus came down to create a better game, where He placed Himself on the cross. Where He took the brunt of it for us. Once and for all wiping away our past’s failures, assuring our future hopes, putting the pieces back together, turning off the timer for eternity, and letting us relax and enjoy the freedom of living for Him.

So are you still chasing perfection or following Him?

edited for grammatical mistakes–cause nobody’s perfect.