Dealing With Imperfection.

Imperfect Bodies.
I’ve been thinking about our desire for perfection and our quick but expensive fixes….face lifts or a nose job to fit us into our image of symmetrical beauty and balance; stomach-tucks to improve our appearance, make us appear fitter and overcome our emotional need to eat for comfort. So many people don’t like the package they were given or what they do to it. But none of us is perfect, in body, mind or emotionally. We have all wanted to be different at some stage of life, in the best case scenario, to be more like Jesus.
Sometimes it’s not so simple. Sometimes our bodies don’t develop properly, like the conjoined twins who need a complicated operation, and will have to share their limbs and organs if they survive; like the child with an extra chromosome, who will need extra care all their life or the child with an extra sensitivity to everyday substances or irregular brain patterns who will need daily medication to live a “normal” life. All of these abnormalities arouse feelings of tender compassion in those who know and love them and even in strangers, moving us beyond selfishness…. Rather like the Father’s love for us, despite our weaknesses. Is this because we feel it’s not their fault; we can’t blame them? They’re victims of circumstance, just like us, trapped in the inevitability of our shared history of the “not quite right”, the unrighteous, the legacy of the corruption of sin.

Imperfect Feelings.
What about someone whose mental or emotional instability causes them to act antisocially? We don’t lock them up for long anymore, we stabilise them and send them back out into society, with appropriate support. Even paedophiles who bring harm to the innocent are separated from society for a relatively short time. The doors are open for everyone to experience as full, as “normal”, a life as possible, through overcoming their particular problems, whether self-inflicted or caused by circumstance.
What about transexuals, those who feel they belong in a different body, whose sex has been confused as they have attributes of both sexes? Do we blame them? Do we treat them like ye old circus freak show? Do we consider their confusion? Do we try to understand?
Then there are those who deliberately choose to portray themselves as a member of the opposite sex either in dress or in action because emotionally they have desires to be treated as such? Is that perversion, an imbalance of hormones, or a person who has been emotionally damaged in their childhood? Can we judge the transvestite or homosexual? We have not felt their pain.
All deviance from the original man created in God’s image are the results of sin, man’s selfishness compounded since Adam when we first put our own desires before those of God. All of us are imperfect, but we accept minor transgressions as the norm. Those outside the norm can be cured, controlled or tolerated. We use mockery or political correctness as weapons to deal with our issues with those who cause us no harm, but make us feel uncomfortable because they are different. Let us remember that we all want our own way, that we all will have issues to battle, feelings to overcome. “All have sinned and fallen short”. “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone”. Love the sinner even while you detest the sin, and enable each other to overcome.

Imperfect Wills.
What of those who celebrate their difference, who form a culture of it? We don’t want a thief to revel in his dishonesty but to repent and turn from that life style, because he has a choice, of whether or not he thrives on others' misfortune. Special Olympics celebrate the abilities of those with special needs on an equal playing field, not their problems. But Gay Pride celebrates their sexuality, their difference from the norm. Why do people choose to limit their identity to one aspect of themselves anyhow? We are more than any box we choose to put ourselves or others into, whether its sexual preference, job or however we identify with a label. I don’t believe any gay person was ever glad they were different when they first suspected they were attracted to the same sex, but rather fought against it. If they came to terms with it, it was because they thought there was no choice if they wanted to find happiness, and they numbed their conscience. No heterosexual person was ever glad to find themselves in love with a married person. But there is a choice for both. Take the forbidden fruit and the consequences, or turn your back on temptation and walk away from it. Take yourself out of the fire, or you will get burned.
No-one has to remain a victim of their circumstances, help is available to strengthen you to withstand, to understand. Read “Pursuing Sexual Wholeness” by Andrew Comiskey,[IBSN1-85424-115X] if you don’t believe that. If you do fall, get up, move away from the danger zone and try again. But don’t celebrate the fact that you’re a sinner, unless you want to spit in the face of God and give honour to Satan.