Why Perfection is an Enemy of Progress

Image Courtesy of JamesWoodward

If you have ever read about God’s creation of the earth, you will find that after each element or creature was created, save for the firmaments (or skies), He would always say it was good. He never said any of it was perfect. It’s not that God couldn’t make these things perfect (because I know he could have) but He made them ‘good’ for reasons. He made them ‘good’ so that the man He created wouldn’t be idle. If everything was perfect upon creation, man would have no chance to invent and create things and improve life. He would have just been roaming the Garden of Eden eating and talking to animals with nothing particularly exciting to face as a challenge or so.

You must have heard this said many times that ‘no one is perfect’ or that ‘no one can be perfect’. This is true and I do not dispute it. Nevertheless, we must realize that this is so because if God had created us perfect we would have no need to improve ourselves (taking into account the sin of Adam through his freewill). There would be no room for us to become better people. Different people view man’s imperfection in their own different ways. Some see it as a disease which needs to be cured. Some see it as a defect which they can do nothing about and so just walk around with the ‘no one is perfect so don’t judge me’ mentality. There are also people who see our imperfection as a default defect that constitutes a vital part of who we are, and in essence they just try to live with it and manage it. They are not particularly committed to improving themselves. They are the ones with the ‘that’s just how I am, I can’t change who I am’ mentality.

However, we also have the people who know that being imperfect is a gift and a chance that we have to constantly improve on and be better than our past selves. They take on the imperfections- in them and the world around them- as a challenge with the aim of improving life. These are the people that go on to achieve worthwhile things in life. These are the people that help to advance human life through various means and inventions. They are the ones who believe that they can make a difference and are bold enough to live with this belief.

I personally do not believe there can be a perfect man (except Jesus Christ) but I am a firm believer in the truth that we can all strive daily towards perfection. It is just a matter of choice and commitment to having a positive view of life. In reference to the story of creation, I have come to acknowledge the Brilliance of God in giving man and creatures the innate ability to grow, develop and improve: physically, spiritually, socially and mentally. God knows how boring and ‘challenge-less’ life would have been if all men and creations were perfect. This is the fun of life. We aren’t perfect and God knows it, and so He has given us the potentials to grow and become better people.

Therefore, the next time you hear someone say ‘no one is perfect’ or that ‘no one can be perfect’, just smile (or laugh out loud, if you want) and remind yourself  that that’s the great thing about life. No one is perfect but everyone has the chance to improve and be better every day.