Perfector or Perfection?

The Lord is really peppering my life with words of wisdom lately, particularly in the area of overcoming sin. I shared the other day about the concept of watching your sin bow down to Christ, Who is Lord over both your life and your sin. Today, I came across these words on a blog that I frequent:

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And, it makes me wonder if sometimes I seek perfection rather than the Perfector if that makes any sense. I long to be perfect, flawless, selfless, and pure, but if my desire is perfection, and not the One perfecting me than I am completely missing the point.

Father, you know my heart. Be my sole desire, Lord.

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This little paragraph stopped me cold. What an excellent point she makes by highlighting the difference between seeking perfection and seeking the Perfector. Too often I get caught up in the me vs. sin tug o' war, and when that happens it is all too easy to view my sin as all too powerful, to develop tunnel vision and see only my sin determined to take me down. So, in addition to acknowledging my need for Christ in those moments and picturing my sin bowing down to Him, I should also shift my gaze from my sin to His glorious face. That sounds obvious, but what a necessary and beautiful part of the victory process!

If my sin is a dead skunk, to which I return over and again to pick at its decaying flesh (tantalizing metaphor compliments of a seminar my husband and I attended at church), then Christ is the turkey with stuffing and mashed potatoes, the meatloaf with brown sugar sauce, the fettuccine alfredo. He is the BROWNIE EARTHQUAKE SUNDAE to my sin's stinking carrion!!! Let's hear it for Jesus, the most delectable feast of which we will ever partake. Would you sell all that you have to purchase a rusty trinket, or to obtain a flawless pearl?

Remember in your temptation to step back and view your sin alongside Christ. Not only can you visualize how much more appealing and satisfying the Lord is, but you could imagine some serious Mortal Kombat action as well. Nothing quite like watching your sin die a gloriously operatic and faintly ridiculous death, eh?

Pray that the Lord will increase your desire for Him. He is faithful to answer those prayers, as I have seen in my life and in the lives of those around me. Pray that God will give you hatred for your sin, and He will share His feelings of wrath and disgust for those things. Pray that He will show you how much more attractive He is than your sin, and He will show your sin in its true light of being ugly, weak, and somewhat comical in its attempt to trap you. Nothing to help you overcome sin like being able to laugh at the very idea that it desires to have you - silly, pitiful little sin!

The power of visual imagery, it is shocking.

I fear that this post has become a somewhat rambling conglomeration of my recent thoughts on sin, but there they are. Seek the Perfector over and above perfection, and He will wash you whiter than snow.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).