Perfect Life

I realized something today (as I woke up at 4:30am and couldnt get back to sleep), what does perfect life mean?

I've heard, and hey I've said myself, that Jesus came to earth and lived a perfect life so a) we wouldnt need to and b) to show us that, hey, it could be done.

But (for a brief moment) when I look at it, he didn't really have a perfect life...

• his mother was looked down on cuz she got pregnant out of wedlock.
• the king at the time ordered all children under 2 to be killed
• people tried to kill him because of his teaching
• his friends abandoned him when he most needed
• one of his closest friends betrayed him and sold him
• the judge washed his hands of him
• the gaurds tortured him
• and the crowds yelled "Crucify him"

Wow. Did he really live a perfect life? This showed me three things:

1. We live in a world of relative morality, relative truth, I believe we also have  relative perfection. We live in a hallmark society where perfection, where a house can be "perfect" for one person but not for another... all the little quirks in your spouse make them "perfect" for you, etc...
2. When we look at Jesus, we usually see a skewed image of who he was as a human being. He didn't just live his 33 years on earth. He did die, but he also came to life, we have to take that into consideration as well.

Shit will happen! You're going to be in an accident; something will rob your house; someone will break into your car; someone will cut you off on the road (could even be me); you will encounter rejection; you will encounter pain; you will encounter disease; you will lose you're loved ones; be cheated on; God forbid, you could even be raped, this is just the kind of world we live in. not all of that will happen to everyone, but there isn't one person who could go through life without some sort of hardship coming up at some point or other.

So what do we do then? Do we scream at God and ask him where he is? Why is he so perfect? All high and mighty up in heaven telling us what's good or bad? What would you do?

I came to a conclusion. What happens to you does not define the quality of your life. Let me repeat that. What you gets thrown at you in life does not make your life good or bad, one way or another. It's how you deal with it, how you react to it, how you let it affect you, that defines who you are.

How can two people go through the same tragedy, but come out with completely different outlooks on life? We live in a time where we look at what happens to us as our lot in life. We see the shells that we live in and we think "this must be it".

That's why it's so important to make sure we look closely at Jesus' life. He was hated, but he never hated anyone back. He was betrayed but he wasn't bitter. He was abandoned, but he still loved his friends. He was tortured, but he still healed that soldier's ear after Peter cut it off. The people screamed to have him crucified, but he prayed for them with his last breath and forgave them.

That's the stuff that made his life perfect. That's what we need to look to Jesus for. In John 10:10 he said he came to give life, and have it in abundance! And in Hebrews 4:15 it says that we don't have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. It says he is perfect.

That's what a perfect life means.