High Expectations Father and Achieving Perfection Through Christ

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.

Success Kid and Counting Our Blessings

Success Kid was one of the first memes I found, and is still one of my personal favorites. Originally a picture of a boy at the beach with a fist full of sand, he's now one of the more positive memes that you'll find. He's usually paired with either a positive event or a positive outcome to a situation that stereotypically has a negative one. The key is that the situations are generally trivial, and that is where the connection is made to my point for this post.

Most of you are probably familiar with the concept of counting your blessings. It means taking a moment to appreciate the little things in life that are good for us. People tend to be able to focus on minor disappointments and difficulties for extended amounts of time, but the small moments of joy and kindness are so quickly brushed aside and forgotten. Let's see if Success Kid can help change our perspective to one more pleasing to God, and better for ourselves too.

A Child's Point of View Means Looking Up

Success Kid, and many children, have a way of looking at things objectively. They see how something is affecting them now and then moving on when it stops. Without the weight of concerns for the future, children have a perspective that allows them to stop worrying about something when it's no longer an issue.

Matthew 18:3
Then he said, "I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.

How many times do we look back on a situation only to realize that it wasn't worth all the worry? Kids have a way of switching back to a positive outlook on life, accepting happiness for what it is when it arrives. They don't like pain any more than adults do, but they also don't dwell on it when that pain is removed. The proof of this is in how a kiss on a scratch can make them feel better. Success Kid is able to keep difficulties in perspective, and be thankful that trouble is past rather than dwell on things.

Find the Silver Lining

It's not just after the fact that we can follow the example of Success Kid. He's also able to find the positive in the middle of bad situations. Focusing on the good during the bad can have a long-lasting affect on our permanent outlook, including how receptive we are to God's will.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

You may want to read that again. Notice how it doesn't say be thankful when God is doing tons of nice things for you? It says to be thankful in ALL circumstances. "But you don't know what I have to deal with!", you might say. Or "God isn't fair to me, I deserve better than this!". I wish I had some proof somehow that God loves and cares for us...

1 Chronicles 16:34
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Psalm 86:15
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Oh, well there you go. Thanks God! The Bible is full of affirmations that with God, we can handle it, no matter what it is. Even when our vision gets clouded by negativity and hard times, God is still blessing us. Find those blessings, and focus on them. It will pull you through the rough spots. But how can we do that when it seems like things just never go our way?

Focus on the Little Things

Psalm 103
A psalm of David.
1 Let all that I am praise the LORD; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.2 Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me.3 He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.4 He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.5 He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!6 The LORD gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly

Nice weather when you have outdoor plans. A sudden hug from a child. A stranger letting you over on the highway. Clothes. Access to the Internet. Do you thank God for these things, or do you just expect them? It will be next to impossible to be thankful and have a good attitude when things get difficult if we don't do it when things are normal. I wonder if we could each think of ten blessings to be thankful for before we even leave our bedrooms in the morning.

Let's try a little exercise. Think of an everyday occurrence that would normally just ruin your day... Got one? Mine's the power going out, and no copying. It happens way too often, even on sunny days with no wind. Now, turn it around to the opposite event. In my case, that means having electricity. Now, since we get angry and cry "Why me, God? Why me?" for the bad version, do you give thanks and praise to God for the good one? I'll admit I don't. The simple fact is that if we feel God is worthy of our gripes, we need to make sure he get's our thanks too.

Psalm 100:4
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name.

Being Generous With Stuff That's Not Ours Anyway

2 Corinthians 9:10-11
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

Just one more little bit here. Basically the Bible tells us that everything we have is by the grace of God, so what you think is your stuff, is really only yours on borrowed time. We're lucky that God cares enough to provide that 198,000 mile car that leaks oil. If it gets you to church on Sunday then it's more valuable than the brand new Lexus sitting in the garage of a guy who's never going to answer when Christ calls him. See, when we use what we have to bring ourselves closer to God, it's value increases tremendously, and one of the best ways to do that is through generosity. If we are generous with our time, money, and other resources, and make sure people know where those resources really come from, those blessings that selfishness causes us to miss will suddenly become crystal clear. It's very tough to be angry when you can see and feel God's blessings coming down.

Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

So, Success Kid is successful because he stays focused on God and a righteous attitude. Sure he'll slip up every once in a while, but those times only serve to highlight the good. I'll leave you with a couple more that I just like. God Bless and thanks as always for reading.

Forever Alone Doesn't Have to Be

Poor Forever Alone Guy. He's probably the saddest meme ever made. Forever Alone is a poorly drawn and unpleasant looking face, sometimes with tears on his cheeks. He's put into situations or conversations where he has no friends, no relationships, and no one seems to care or notice him. The thing with FA is that while a lot of the situations are funny in how extreme they are, they can often be close to our real lives, or at least close enough to relate.

We are a social species. We are designed (intelligently designed) to need each other. We have differences to make up for each others weaknesses. In the case of Forever Alone, some problems can arise as he tries to cope. What warning signs can we get from this popular meme?  Feel free to chuckle at these.  They are fiction and written for humor (not by me, these all happen to be from quickmeme.com). The point of these blogs is to laugh but also take something away from the humor to draw us closer together, and ultimately, closer to God.

Forever OK With Being Alone

One way some try to deal with loneliness is to try and convince yourself that you like it that way. It's certainly not fears of rejection or abandonment keeping them from being social, they just prefer to be alone.  The danger here long term is that deluding yourself like this can sometimes work too well, and you'll start avoiding others even when the opportunity is there to reach out.  We need to be a blessing to others, and in turn be blessed by them.  There's Biblical reference to back this up.

¹So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, ²complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.³Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 2:1-5 (ESV)

Forever Looking to Fill the Void

Eventually the loneliness will break through the delusion, and the lonely will turn to stuff to try and fill that hole.  Ecclesiastes 6:7 says "All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied." This is why people become obsessed with having things. No matter how many square pegs you get, they weren't designed to fit in the round hole made for personal relationships.

Forever Out of Touch With Reality

Trying to cope with being alone and the discontent that comes with it, a fantasy life can start to develop around how the person would wish to act or be viewed by others. Fantasizing about what you would do or say is pretty innocent in and of itself. I'm sure how I envision my ability to be charming and romantic is very different from how my wife would describe the reality. The trouble comes from living too much in the fantasy.  That girl you like? Chances are she's not going to be swooning over everything you say. You probably aren't going to be MVP every game if you try out for the team. Does that mean don't talk to the girl or go out for the team? Of course not, you should do both, but expecting the fantasy will just set you up to be disappointed even in a positive result.  People might not think you're the greatest thing ever or be swept off their feet, but they might still like you. You might not be the best player, but you can support the ones that are and do your best when it's your chance. I think the biggest reason people aren't happy with their relationships is because the reality isn't living up to the fantasy they had going in.  Hate to break it to you, but it never will, and you, or I should say we, need to start appreciating the friendships we have.

Forever Acting the Fool

You all know who I'm talking about. Adults that act like little kids and act out, either by being goofy or being mean, in order to get attention. Even if it's people yelling at them, at least it's AT them. All this accomplishes is to widen the gap between the individual and the group further and further.

Still with me, even after walls of text and Forever Alone's ugly mug over and over? Good, cause now comes the good part. How does being a Christian help avoid being forever alone? Surely there are lonely Christians.

Lonely, But Never Alone

When we accept the grace of God and forgiveness for our sins, given to us through the death of Jesus on the cross and resurrection three days later, we are promised the help of the Holy Spirit.  There's no schedule for when God will be with us. We don't need an appointment. He's there, with us, all the time. It get's better. He's a perfect friend. He forgives us when we screw up with Him. He loves all your little personality quirks that you're worried will annoy people.  And why wouldn't He? He put them there after all. I'm going to just back this up with a bunch of verses, but there's an important point to make first, and that's for anyone reading that's not a Christian. God is there with you, too. Right now. He's offering that same forgiveness and perfect friendship that you're trying to fill with either imperfect friendships or all sorts of Forever Alone type things. Turn to Him today and see what He's been trying to show you.

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. - Isaiah 41:10 (ESV)

Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. - Matthew 28:20 (ESV)

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:35-39 (ESV)

So what does all this have to do with Forever Alone? Pretty simple really. When we have God backing us up 100% we can rest on that assurance, and let all the worries, nerves, and anxiety melt away. Use His friendship to you as an example to go out there and let the world see the real you. If you're living the life God wants then you're being an example for others to find Him too, and He'll lead you to healthy relationships if you trust Him and give Him time. My suggestion is to start with finding a good church, emphasis on good, because they aren't always. Here's a couple more that I just think are funny. Thanks for reading and I pray that you all find friendship with God and become Never Alone.

Good Guy Greg is a Christian

OK, so I have no idea if the person in the picture is a Christian or not, but the persona of Good Guy Greg (GGG) displays a lot of Christian values. Good Guy Greg is an "advice animals" meme using a picture of a happy guy smoking, where he does nice things to humorous effect. There are other sites that have info about advice animals but fair warning, there's plenty out there that's not family friendly. Basically they are pictures with funny text added.

So what makes GGG so good?

He Loves His Neighbor

30.And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. 31.The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these. - Mark 12:30-31 (NLT)

The majority of GGG posts involve him doing something kind, generous, or thoughtful for someone else. The subjects are funny because they are such simple things, but they are also a little sad because someone doing the same things in real life is rare.

I'm the first to admit that of course non-Christians can do something nice for someone else without any benefit to themselves. Being a Christian and being a nice person aren't mutually exclusive. The reasoning for brotherly love, however, has it's origins with Christianity, and when a non-Christian does something nice they are still displaying a Christian trait, similar to when I heat up some Hamburger Helper I'm displaying a culinary trait, but that doesn't make me a chef.

He's a Good Samaritan.

This concept goes hand in hand with loving your neighbor. The verses quoted above are followed by the parable of the good Samaritan, which can be read here if you're not familiar with it. Basically Jesus is asked who qualifies as a neighbor, and the story is his of saying it's, well, everyone. He takes the concept of neighbor beyond those we share a street with to a broader scale of everyone we come in contact with.

He Honors His Parents (and Significant Other)

Some of us were blessed with good parents and some with bad, but we are to honor them when we deal with them. That doesn't demand agreement, but it does demand respect and patience, and the same attitude applies to our spouses or significant others. GGG has both when a lot of us would fail.

He's Not Perfect 

Even Good Guy Greg makes a bad decision sometimes.  I mean he's even smoking in his now famous picture. Christians don't claim to be perfect. If you find one that does I'd find a different one to base your opinion of Christians off of. What we do claim is that we follow Someone who was perfect; Jesus. And by living that perfect life and dying a blameless death, He paved the way for the rest of us to follow Him.

The important thing in the case of GGG and ourselves it that we acknowledge our mistakes and pray for the strength and wisdom to prevent them from happening again.

So there you have it, my reasoning why as internet goers ask "What would GGG do?", he is asking "What would Jesus do?" Yeah, I went there... Sorry.

As a reward for making it this far without reaching TL;DR level, here are a couple of my favorites, and some advice from Courage Wolf.

Thanks for reading, most posts won't be this long.  God Bless and be safe out there in the wilds of the internet.