Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." -John 5:14
I never realized the profoundness of this simple passage from the Bible. It's such a simple statement but the magnitude of the task that was asked to be performed is insane. Stop sinning? How is that even possible? Jesus is essentially asking us to be perfect and that's an ideal that I find to be contradictory with human nature. While I understand that not everyone understands my faith and why I invest so much in it, there is something here that I feel applicable to everyone especially for students like myself.
I find this concept of being able to attain perfection a flawed idea. Perfection is aspect of humanity that is absent and I don't think we will, as normal human beings, be able to become "perfect." That's another problem, what is perfect? Perfection can be such an subjective ideology that it is different per person. Personally, I find the most troubling thing about reaching perfection is the fact there is nothing left for you to do after attaining it so the only logical thing to do is to be content with yourself. You've overcame all struggles and obstacles to become this personification of perfect. But that's the problem, I don't think there will ever be a time for us to ever say that we will be able to become this perfect person. It's ingrained in our nature for us to screw up and to be flawed. I'm not saying that we are all terrible people but I don't think we can ever truly say that we can be completely satisfied with who we are. We can lie to ourselves and make ourselves believe that all is well and life is perfect but then we are only denying what we know in our heart. These same thoughts made me wonder why Jesus asked/told a recently healed man to attempt the impossible and become perfect. Throughout the Bible, it is pretty evident that Jesus clearly understood the limits and faults of human nature yet He still asked this man to stop an aspect that is so ingrained in our nature. There has to be some deeper meaning to this statement that is initially loss when it is first read.
Perhaps what Jesus was asking this man was to not be perfect but strive to be perfect. The pursuit of perfection is a much more practical and realistic goal than trying to force ourselves to be something we are not. It could be that Jesus was simply asking/telling him to not settle for what he has or for less but strive to be a better man than he was the day before. It's interesting to note that when Jesus healed this man, the man didn't approach Jesus to heal him nor did Jesus make some grand "Hey World, I'm Jesus and I'm going to perform a miracle!" gesture instead Jesus simply asked the man if he wanted to get better. There's a saying that we are our own worst critic and maybe our own criticism is something we need to listen to. Maybe what is necessary for us to get that much closer to perfection is acknowledging whatever flaws we have and attempting to find ways to right the ship. My realization that we can never be this perfect person that we all want to be deep down but we have the ability and opportunity to become pretty darn close to perfect is encouraging. While it is a downer that we will never see or feel what it's like to be perfect, I find comfort in the fact that there's always for improvements and life can always get better no matter how terrible it may seem. It is up to us put in the effort and time to constantly improve and never, ever settle for less.
"The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection." -C.S. Lewis
