“Therefore, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)
Jesus says this rather early in the Sermon on the Mount. The Greek word used for “perfect” is τελειοι (teleioi) and is a derivative of τελος (telos). Telos is also the root word in the word “telescope.” Telescopes help us to see our end goal or destination. Think of pirates on the open sea using a telescope to find the island in the distance they are looking to port.
Telos is often translated as “perfect” but it is also translated as “goal, end, completion, purpose, and mature.”
To see spirituality as a means by which God might choose to help us reach our “goal, end, completion, purpose, maturity” is a world of difference from making the faith all about “perfection.” If we interpret faith as something that constantly reminds us and even fixates on our imperfections then that means we are setting ourselves up for perpetual failure.
Do we believe God primarily looks at his Creation and sees failures across the board?
Is that how a parent sees their children?
Sure, God sees people who have made a mess of things but what if they made a mess of things, not because they were imperfect, but because they were not yet mature?
Do you hear the difference? We have made an idol of perfection and forgotten the task of being mature!
Some people have even found ways to weaponize a spirituality of perfectionism against others and for their benefit. “Perfection” often becomes intertwined with simply becoming more “moral” or more “obedient” to authorities.
In contrast or morality or obedience, Matthew 5:48 is the last sentence in a paragraph from the Sermon on the Mount about loving one’s enemies! The mature person, who is “perfect as God is perfect,” is someone who loves their enemies! The context is all about love!
What if Christian spirituality is what God uses to help us become the most mature and loving version of ourselves? To pursue our purpose? To complete our path? To reach our end, our goal?
What I enjoy about the word telos is that it reframes the whole enterprise. Rather than being a place to arrive at, spirituality becomes a launch pad to something else. It becomes a raft to transport us. Vitamins help us grow. Spirituality becomes an invitation to grow rather than an indictment to be shamed by.
What if Christian spirituality is designed to help us perpetually grow in mature love rather than moral perfection? What would that kind of faith look like?
(This is an excerpt from my free book, Breadcrumbs: Reflections on a Reconstructed Faith eBook, which you can get for free when you sign up for the 5 on Friday Newsletter.
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