I have a bit of a challenge for this post. I have a few ideas in the works for future posts, but I decided to try something different, and asked a friend what meme he'd like me to cover. His response was High Expectations Asian Father. The concept if you're unfamiliar is that of a stereotypical Asian father who demands academic perfection from his children, only in these cases the idea is applied to other situations for the sake of humor. Let me start off by saying this is a stereotyped character and does not represent any actual view or opinion. The post is not intended to cause any offense whatsoever. That's why I'm leaving any racial references out and the meme will simply be called High Expectations Father, or HEF for laziness.
HEF memes always involve holding his children up to impossibly high standards. No matter what they achieve, they will be a failure in HEF's eyes. How does this compare with God's expectations of us, his children? Are they impossibly high, and we're all being set up to fail, or is God more of a hands on parent than we realize?
Perfection is the Goal, Not the Price of Admission
Philippians 3:12-14 NLT
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
I feel like a lot of people don't really understand the requirements to be a Christian. It seems that a common opinion is "I'll never be able to act perfect all the time, so why bother?" and if perfection was the requirement, they'd be right. In reality, living the perfect Christian life is the goal we work towards, not some type of initiation before you can get in. Being a Christian is a process, not a light switch. Imagine if someone wanted to be a chef, and they said "Well, I know I'll eventually burn dinner so why bother learning to cook?" Most people would say that's a silly reason not to even try cooking, and the same could be said for countless other examples like driving, sports, writing, music, and so on. The goals that we set for ourselves in life require dedication and practice in order to get things right. Our goal as Christians is no different except for one very important point.
Our Heavenly Father Knows Our Limits
Rather than make us puppets to His will, God loved the humanity He created enough to give us the choice to follow him or not. He freed us to make the decision on our own to follow His will, and the downside to that is that since we aren't God we make mistakes. This is true for every single one of us and God knew it would be from the first man and woman.
Ecclesiastes 7:20 NLT
20 Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.
Romans 7:18-19 NLT
18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.
Sin is the great equalizer that puts us all on the same footing in terms of our standing with God. We're all imperfect on our own, so we all need saving if we want to enter into a perfect heaven. Luckily for us, God planned on that too.
Luke 5:30-32 NLT
30 But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?” 31 Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. 32 I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”
Unlike HEF, God really wants us to achieve His goals for our lives. Jesus was born a human, but was also fully God, which is why He was able to live a sinless life. That sinless life led to an innocent death that provided the perfect sacrifice that mankind needed. Christ's death and resurrection paid the price for our mistakes already, and bridged the gap between us and the God who wants us to come to Him.
Romans 5:8 NLT
8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Colossians 1:22 NLT
22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
Practice (And God) Makes Perfect
As I said earlier, Christianity is a process. It's more than just believing Christ died for us and rose again. There's no certificate or pin we get and then just go about living like we did before. Not to sound like I'm botching a Spider-Man quote but there's a responsibility that comes with the gift of salvation. We need to work at living up to the perfect life that Jesus paid the price for. But why bother if you've already got your salvation? Because an unsaved world is watching.
The world looks at Christians the way HEF looks at his kids, demanding absolute perfection. When the world sees Christians making mistakes, they cry foul and call Christians hypocrites for "pretending" to be perfect. Christians are not perfect and never will be. God sees us as perfect, and as a result able to enter heaven, because He sees us through the blanket of Christ who has covered our sins. It's for the sake of unbelievers that we strive to follow the perfect example of Christ. People need to be shown how high the possibilities are with God, even though they are waiting to see how far we are able to fall. The best starting line to get there is by practicing Jesus' commands to love God, and love our neighbors.
Matthew 22:36-40 NLT
36“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” 37Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
1 John 4:18 NLT
18Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.
When the world sees us screw it up, remember God isn't looking down like some disapproving parent, He's reaching down to help us stand up again. I encourage Christians to keep running the race God has placed before you, even when it feels like you'll never make it. To anyone who's reading and doesn't know the Lord, first of all, thanks for reading. Second, try not to forget that Christians are still human, and when Christians get things wrong it doesn't mean Christianity isn't still worth it. Here's a couple more memes to end things as usual.
