by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n
In my life, I’ve met people who never came to God because they demanded perfection of themselves. If they could not be absolutely perfect from the start, then they decided it wasn’t worth beginning. They never started because they could never reach perfection. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness<\/em>” (I John 1:8-9).<\/p>\n Jesus talked about two types of people who try to come to God. “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men–extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.<\/em>” (Luke 18:10-14).<\/p>\n The Pharisee demanded perfection of himself and approached God thinking he had succeeded. The tax collector knew he wasn’t perfect but wanted God in his life. Which one are you?<\/p>\n “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up<\/em>” (James 4:8-10).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Your friends aren’t looking for someone perfect. We want you free from sin, including your addiction, so we are willing to work\u00a0with<\/strong>\u00a0you. Don’t lock your friends out because you don’t measure up to your own expectations.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrior Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSearching for My Friend\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Perfect by Jeffrey W. Hamilton In my life, I’ve met people who never came to God because they demanded perfection of themselves. If they could not be absolutely perfect from the start, then they decided it wasn’t worth beginning. They never started because they could never reach perfection. “If we say that we have no…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":25976,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-65658","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":66282,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/the-gospel-accounts-a-chronological-harmony\/parables-and-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":65658,"position":0},"title":"Parables and Children","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Parables and Children Reading Assignment: Matthew 19:13-15 Mark 10:13-16 Luke 18:1-17 Psalm 131:2 Did you understand what you read? What is the point in the parable of the unrighteous judge? What might Jesus not find when he returns? How could that be possible? What is the point concerning the parable\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66588,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/mark-jesus-the-active-servant\/mark-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":65658,"position":1},"title":"Mark 2","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Mark 2 Healing of the Paralytic (Mark 2:1-12) At some point, after many days, Jesus travels by boat across the Sea of Galilee and returns to Capernaum. The word goes out that Jesus had returned, and soon the house he was staying in was so crowded there was no room\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10706,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/the-gospel-accounts-a-chronological-harmony\/johns-ministry\/","url_meta":{"origin":65658,"position":2},"title":"John\u2019s Ministry","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"John's Ministry Reading Assignment: Matthew 3:1-12 Mark 1:1-8 Luke 3:1-20 John 1:19-28 Isaiah 40:3 Malachi 3:1; 4:5 Did you understand what you read? How does Luke date the events in his account when each nation during his time kept separate calendars? Where did John do his preaching? What was his\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42910,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/jesus-and-the-pharisees\/the-pharisees-and-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":65658,"position":3},"title":"The Pharisees and Prayer","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Pharisees and Prayer The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:1-8) The Sermon on the Mount has been a comparison and contrast between true righteousness and the inferior level of righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20). It is not about new law versus the Law of Moses. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66131,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/the-gospel-accounts-a-chronological-harmony\/pharisees-and-lawyers\/","url_meta":{"origin":65658,"position":4},"title":"Pharisees and Lawyers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Pharisees and Lawyers Reading Assignment: Luke 11:37-54 \u00a0 Did you understand what you read? Where do these events take place? What had Jesus not done before eating? What do Pharisees do while leaving the inside undone? What did Jesus mean by saying \"Give that which is within as charity?\" Was\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69321,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/mark-jesus-the-active-servant\/mark-12\/","url_meta":{"origin":65658,"position":5},"title":"Mark 12","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Mark 12 Parable of the Vine-Growers (Mark 12:1-12) Jesus then invites the leaders to listen to another parable. This one told of a landowner who planted a vineyard. The story is very similar to that told in\u00a0Isaiah 5:1-7, though the story takes a different turn. The vineyard was well protected\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65658\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}