“A More Perfect Union”

We live in an ideal world; that is, we live in a world that revolves around ideals. Whatever it is that we find ourselves doing or pursuing, we have ideals that establish standards for our words and actions. Ideals are different from goals. Where goals establish steps for achievement, ideals define the perfect. When we have ideals, we often set goals that guide us toward the perfect. Sometimes our goals are points along the way where we pause to evaluate our progress or even to stop, like when we decide we are close enough to the ideal. For example, when we served in Michigan, our family was able to spend a week at a friend’s cabin in the woods each summer; while I was sitting there alongside the river, sipping a cup of coffee, and reading a book, I had a fleeting thought of trying to own such a getaway property but realized that a week in the woods in a borrowed cabin was close enough to the ideal.

Sometimes “close enough” isn’t good enough; sometimes consistent, persistent pursuit of the ideal is imperative. As we approach Independence Day, we remember that our founding fathers recognized the importance of pursuing the ideal. They identified the ideal in the Declaration of Independence, stating, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” That’s a lofty ideal, one that takes a lot of intentional effort to achieve. The founding fathers recognized that, having stated their goal in the Constitution, that is, “to form a more perfect union.”

There’s no doubt, as our country’s history demonstrates, it is a constant, on-going struggle to reach the ideal of equality among all people. Even if the ideal is “self-evident,” the practical reality doesn’t always reflect it, so we must keep working to achieve it. A few weeks ago, in an interview at Normandy commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Tom Hanks summarized the efforts of all those troops as working to “mend the future,” striving to fulfill an ideal on a global level. He said, “That journey to a more perfect union has missteps in it…. Over the long-term, however, we inevitably make progress towards, I think, that more perfect union.” As we face another contentious national election, it’s important that we recognize what Hanks identified, that pursuing the ideal doesn’t mean we’re always living in it and that not living in the ideal doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be pursuing it.

This is vitally important for our spiritual lives, even more so than our civic lives. As Christians, as the church, we have an ideal, to be conformed to the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). Again, that’s a lofty ideal, one that takes a lot of intentional effort to achieve. Praise God, in his infinite wisdom, he planned and established the church to help us achieve it. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:11-13:

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

The ideal gives us hope, that “we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). Still, it’s a process, one that requires us to change, “to put off your old self… to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).

There’s no doubt that we’re not living in the ideal, not in our own lives nor as the church, a fact Paul not only pointed out to the early church throughout his letters but recognized in himself, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15). Yet, Paul still recognized God’s plan and work to change him: “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25). Our ideal is to achieve a “more perfect union” – to be more like Christ, more like God. Praise God that he has delivered us and transforms us through Christ!