We want perfection. And humans pursue perfection in almost everything—physical beauty, fashion, sports ability, technological design, culinary creations, even spirituality. We celebrate those who appear perfect, or at least come close to our picture of perfection. We envy them and try to be like them. We may say that we pursue perfection with a vengeance. But is this pursuit worthwhile?
J.R. Briggs, a pastor in Pennsylvania, has some interesting reflections on the Japanese worldview of wabi-sabi, which sees beauty in imperfection, impermanence, and incompleteness. He writes:
When a white pottery bowl breaks, for example, one might glue it back together with white lacquer to disguise the breaks, making it look as new and complete as possible. But in the East the bowl might be glued back together with lacquer sprinkled with gold to highlight the cracks and imperfections. Japanese culture sees the aesthetic value of imperfection in wabi-sabi just as much as the Greeks valued perfection in their art. Wabi-sabi is seen as beautiful because it is imperfect and broken. The gospel is like spiritual wabi-sabi. It is the story of how God redeems imperfect, broken people and uses them to bless a fractured world.
I am reminded of Paul’s picture of treasure in imperfect vessels: “But we have this treasure in clay pots so that the awesome power belongs to God and doesn’t come from us” (2 Corinthians 4.7 CEB).
Perhaps what we need to pursue is not so much perfection but holiness. The human pursuit of perfection is about our need to be perceived by others as somehow extraordinary, as a head above the rest. And so we do our best to hide the imperfections. Even though we know that we are not perfect, we try too hard to appear perfect. In the process, we get in the way of God’s purpose. We call attention to our self-constructed perfection, and away from God.
Holiness, on the other hand, is about embracing our identity as one who belongs to God, set aside for his purposes. Holiness acknowledges that only God is truly perfect. And his perfection is best revealed in our imperfection. “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12.9–10 NIV).
—Keith Y. Jainga