What Does A Perfect Man Need?

Introduction

Recently, I read an article concerning a woman who made the perfect man. She stated she molded him to attain to all of her needs and there was nothing that she needed that was not fulfilled through Him.

Many of people dream of the perfect man or woman. And if the perfect man or woman is not your concern there’s surely some other perfect thing you wish you could create or mold. Maybe it is the perfect job or car; home. Some of us wish we could build our “perfect” life. Yet, there’s something we often forget when thinking about the “perfect” whatever. It is that whatever perfect is becomes subject to the moment [time].

The writer of the article expressed that there was a flaw in her making of the perfect man. She did not take into consideration that she would change. And there’s no additional accommodations to be made for the making of a perfect thing. For, whatever is made is made. She went on to discuss how the perfect man was no longer perfect. The perfect man became useless and in need of changes. Perfect literally became outdated.

Isn‘t it interesting that our friends from elementary school often fail to follow us into middle school; those school friends from middle school are nowhere to be found in high school. College leaves behind those friends from high school and adulthood searches for friends that college could not provide. On the rare occasion our friendships last for eternity it is only because of the moments those perfect friendships captured.

Here’s the point…perfection is only good for the moment. After the moment in which something is perfect has passed, the thing ceases to remain perfect. It is not that it has stopped being perfect, but that the moment for its perfection has passed. Perfect needs moments in order for its perfection to maintain relevance. Whatever your idea life, world, or thing is—remember, it will one day become outdated; not because it changed, but because you will change. Your favorite car, meal, vacation space, home, etc. will cease to be perfect, not on account of its perfection, but simply because of time.

It is interesting how this all work, and perhaps, this is why Jesus has become of little relevance to so many. He served the immediate need that led us to the altar. Yet, when it comes to the other needs in our life that have changed with time, we sometimes feel he’s not as “perfect” anymore. The issue with this sort of thing is—that which is eternal is not subject to time or any moment. He is large enough to fit every moment and all time. So, if Jesus was once perfect and relevant to us and is no longer such, it is a fundamental problem with what we think we found upon meeting Him. It is also a matter of how our view of perfection has changed outside of the moment we were first introduced to Jesus.

I bring this point up, because we read in Genesis 6:9 that Noah was perfect. Yet, now we know that perfection as held by transient beings have limitations. In fact, the text shows us the limitations of Noah’s perfection. It says, Noah was “perfect in his generation.” He was not the epitome of total perfection. Neither was he perfect in all things. He was perfect in his generation, because the earth was corrupt (Genesis 6:11-12). In this, he was spectacular!

Isaiah and Ezekiel both speak of Noah as a righteous man. Hebrews 11:7 speaks of Noah as a family man who saved his family from destruction. Noah was a man of faith. Yet, what the Bible calls faith we might call crazy!

What Does It Mean to Be Perfect?

There are three things that describe Noah’s faith:

He saw.

He moved.

He prepared.

We cannot assume we have faith if we are not first seeing something that God is not showing others. God shows those who walk with him things that are not discernible by others. In fact, he shows them things that have never happened before, which makes their actions all the more absurd.

You are not crazy, because of what God showed you! He showed it to you for a reason. Don’t hide the things God showed, just because others have not seen it.

Next, faith will lead us to move. Notice, Hebrews depict Noah as being motivated by godly fear. This is sort of reverence demonstrates that Noah’s response was not simply a matter of survival. It was a matter of piety. It was his religious responsibility to move at what he saw.

Lastly, Noah prepared. The word is often translated built, which means Noah made something by combining materials and parts. When you see and are reverent of God, you build. One cannot say they have seen the unseeable, respect God and is not willing to build.

This is what made Noah so perfect in his generation.

What Perfection Can’t Do

Yet, because perfection is restricted and subject to the moment, Noah was destined to live-down the perfect persona that was initially prescribed to him in Genesis 6:9. Let this be a lesson to us!

We should not be so moved by those who don’t always live up to their perfect status, because there’s only one who is perfect—God.

All of us should be sensitive to the fact that we ourselves may one day live-down our own perfect status—creating a need for an eternally perfect one.

Genesis 9:18-21 shows that Noah made a critical mistake. It was not simply the drinking of the wine, rather it was the creation of a snare laid for his sons. He provoked his children by his drunkeness (Colossians 3:21). The very thing that once proved his faithfulness was later the thing he failed at. Because of it, his son was judged for it. If this does not demonstrate a slight problem in Noah, perhaps Genesis 10-11 will.

Noah survived the flood that killed all of those that warranted such a drastic means of judgment. Yet, in Genesis 10 we find that all of the humans that now occupied the earth were descendents of Noah, and in Genesis 11 we find the earth is once contaminated again.

Genesis 11:1-4 shows us that the earth was still in just as bad of shape as it was before the flood. God knew this would be the case. For he said after the flood,

Genesis 8:21 CSB

21 When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, he said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of human beings, even though the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth onward. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.

You see, the flood destroyed the men that carried the sin, but the flood did not destroy the sin that was carried by the men. And since the flood could not destroy the sin that the men carried, man needed something that was bigger than a flood to destroy what a flood can’t destroy. That something is actually a someone, and his name is Jesus!

Anytime we want to throw our “perfection” in the face of someone, we all need to remember that our perfection is always subject to the moment, and though we are perfect in the moment, at some point we will prove our need for a Savior that can free us from those less than perfect moments in our life.

Hebrews 11 list what we might call “perfect” people. In fact, Hebrews 11:39-40 tells us that our perfection is not the means to which we receive anything, even though it is the means by which we condemn the world of its corruption (Genesis 6:13-22). He condemned the world by his perfection in the moment and ultimately demonstrated his need of the ultimate perfect one!

Many people have concluded that their condemnation of the world is the same as their means of being perfected.

Hebrews 11:40 shows us that perfect men need to be perfected. How are perfect men perfected? We look to Jesus!

Hebrews 12:1–2 CSB

1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.