1^st August 2012

Yes and No!
Our God dwells in unapproachable unchanging light. His eyes are too holy to look upon sin. He is working to restore all things in Christ, to overflowing perfectness of holy love.
But, what about His relationships with humanitry, with you and me? How rigorous is He? How does He feel in looking upon us and dealing with in our reality of ambiguous motivation and imperfection ,even blameworthiness? Is He like a perfectionist?
Being a perfectionist, or living with a perfectionist can be painful. They never let up. There's no easy way. Some things are frowned on and never softened (the hell of perfectionism in a person is that they are not perfect in everything!).
There is a word Paul uses to describe a particular facet of our Lord Jesus Christ's way of holy love(2Corinthians 10.1). He speaks of the gentleness of Christ. Some translate kindness, some leniency or clemency. Tyndale in his famous foundational translation had ‘softness', but in today's language gentleness is good because it means strength limited or restrained. Thus only one who is strong can be gentle. Only One who is without sin can be truly gentle.
Here God is not burdened with perfectionism. Neither should we.
In tracing the word's history, Archbishop Trench shows how it described the way love is more concerned with the spirit of right than the letter of right, with what is truly just than strict justice. This grace which flows from God describes his way of grace in going back from the strictness of his rights as against us and allowing for our imperfections, a willingness to give value to that which rigorously counted would have none. His refusal to exact extreme penalty.
This is Peter being restored, now strengthening his brethren. The greatly forgiven servant expected to forgive his debtor. To keep ourselves in this way of being loved, and thus to grow in this love , to overflow with this character of grace love is to become perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.

Ian Clarkson (First published in ACCatalyst April 2012)