caution: mighty power at work

For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
(1 Cor 13:9-13, NASB)

We are in the dimension of imperfection. It is not a time of nothingness; it is a time of imperfection, of the partial. There is something here, and that something is beautiful. We have been blessed abundantly by God with every good and perfect gift through His Son. However, we are still incomplete. The Kingdom is within us, but it is also not yet completed, for it is still at hand. We are to pray "Thy Kingdom come," and yet it is here as a seal, as a promise, and as an imperfect perfection.

In this stage of transition, it is the ordering of desires that structures the realization of the Kingdom, that nurtures and fertilizes the seed of faith and that challenges to grow from mere infants into children of God. While we are not yet fully, it is not this moment that is to be focused upon, for this moment is transitory. Rather, it is the direction, the movement, of our lives within this moment that truly takes significance from an eternal perspective. It is who we love, what we desire, and what we will to do that determines who we actually are.

Indeed, it is inherently upon recognizing what is truly lacking and in striving for what is best to be completed that there is the possibility of completion, of perfection. The act of completion is realized only in faith, through which we are confident that our work, our striving, is not in vain. This act is not of ourselves, for it is only God who is able to perfect, for in Him is perfection.

In fact, were God merely complete, there would be nothing left for us to realize, since there would be no overflow of His perfection. His love, however, is immeasurable. It is constantly greater than anything, since there is nothing that can separate it from us. His love is in-finite, beyond any end or limit, even the limit of completion. God is love. He is always more, and able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine. When we say that God is unqualified perfection, we not only acknowledge that there is nothing that is lacking in Him, but we paradoxically acknowledge that He is beyond perfection.
Aristotle's ideas on potentiality and actuality may help to clarify what this means for us. Actuality is what is while potentiality is what may be. God is. "I am who I am." He is actuality, for He is and He enables us to be. We participate in God's reality through the life He has given us and anything that "is" as we may define it. Everything was created by Him and for Him. Unfortunately, we often realize that what we are is not what we desire to be. We are not living up to our potential.
 

Potentiality, then, is defined as an "Inherent capacity for growth, development, or coming into existence" or "Something possessing such capacity." It can only be found within sequence, transition, or movement. This is our dimension. We have potential; this tremendous power of God's redemptive plan that we trust will one day allow us to see face to face and know fully. Potentiality is not lack, per se; it is capacity, a power (hence root 'potency'). It is included in what we are, not what we are not. Because it is in him that we live and move and have our being, it is according to His power that is at work within us that our labour is not in vain. We are perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect, in potential, through His power. His power is our potential.

As believers knowing God's gift of free will and personal responsibility, our will and desires determine what becomes through our faith and God's power. As such, it is necessary that our desires are properly ordered, that we seek the only One who is able to reward our desires. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

In this, we must not be consumed with who we are right now, but rather we must focus on the Joy we are pursuing right now. We are to fix our eyes upon Jesus, who is the Author and Perfector of faith. It is this telos that we are striving for. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the End.

This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. It is by His stripes that we are healed. He is our final end. As such, while we are on this journey we will not perfectly reach our destination, only imperfectly see it from afar and welcome it. The risen Christ at the right hand of God is the Joy set before us.

Thankfully, the servant Christ is our guide, walking the road to Emmaus with us. We are receiving the goal of our faith as God transforms us through His power to be children of light, even here and now in our imperfect state. Earthbound, I will never fully embrace my Lord, but He will always be my treasure and through His power I am drawing near to Him. In this life I will never be the ideal me, but the man of Christ is who I desire to be, and in faith I know that I am becoming that man. Christ's love compels us and gives wings to our weary souls, strength to climb another day.