Stripping Perfection

P h i l i p p i a n s 3 : 1 2 

I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. (NLT)

One of my favorite places to day-work is the Smith/Oasis Ranch in Canadian, Texas. My good friend Marshall Long is the ranch manager there and we’ve had lots of great experiences working together. I had the pleasure of seeing Marshall come to know Christ and I got to baptize him in a river just north of where we lived. I’ve never told him this, but, while I may have played a small part in mentoring him spiritually, he’s been my greatest influence when it comes to cowboyin’. He’s the greatest hand I’ve ever ridden with, and, for the most part, he expects his crew to be great hands as well. That said, to be asked to come and work for him is a true honor.

A few years back, I was helping Marshall with his spring works. We had gathered a couple sets of cows and worked the first set when Marshall hollered at me and a few other guys to take the second set of cows and strip the mommas off the calves. This meant that we needed to sort the momma cows from their calves so that we could run the mommas through the chute and drag the calves. Although this job is commonly done in the gate afoot, this particular day we decided to do it horseback. This meant that while the other cowboys were bringing the cows and calves to the gate to be sorted, one of us had to stand in the gate horseback, letting the cows go by but not the calves. Sounds difficult, right? Well, it is. I remember one of the cowboys looked at the other guy and said, “There’s no way I can sort them on my horse, he’s only got about ninety days on him, and it wouldn’t be pretty.” Then the other cowboy piped up and said, “My horse won’t do any good either.” Then they both looked at me, and one of them said, “You’re up, Beau!”

Now if you’ve ever had to sort cows this way, you know that it says something about a cowboy when he can sort cattle horseback. Needless to say, you kind of have to know what you’re doing, and more importantly you have to have a horse that’s broke. If I was being honest, although I knew my horse was handy enough to do the job, in that moment, I felt I was not. But, because I’ve always had a hunger to get better at what I do, I stepped into the gate and told the boys to bring ‘em to me. I wish I could tell you that I was perfect that day and not a single calf got by me, but that wouldn’t be true. The truth is, although I was successful at keeping eighty or so calves from getting through, I did let a couple get by. And although the guys told me I did a good job, boy did I hate not being perfect.

Later that day, Marshall and I were watering down the corrals for the next day’s branding. While we were visiting, I told him that when he asked me to strip those cows, I wanted so badly to do it perfectly. I told him that I hated letting him down and really didn’t know why he trusted me to do such a crucial job. Much to my surprise and relief, he looked at me and said, “It’s ok—letting a few calves by is more fun anyway, because the guys get to go rope them and drag them back out.” I was like, “Thank you, Jesus!” Here I was worried about disappointing my boss and friend, when he didn’t really expect me to be perfect in the first place. All he asked was for me to get in there and try.

I bet you if I were to ask him now about that day, he’d probably tell me that he knew I wasn’t going to be perfect before I even stepped into the gate. He’d known this because he knows that some days everything goes right, and some days it doesn’t. The fact is, he chose me to work for him before I failed and he chose me to work for him after I failed. Why? Because he likes me, not because I am perfect, but because I tried, I put in effort.

Spiritually speaking, although God knows we will never be perfect, He still asks us to strive for perfection anyway. Why? Because it’s in trying that we change the world. He’s not so concerned about us falling short, He just asks each of us to do our best. Some days that means we do things well, and some days that means we don’t. The truth is, God has called all of us to do a job. It may be a job that we feel we’re inadequate to do or a job we fear we’re going to fail at. But just like my buddy Marshall used me in spite of my failures, God wants to use us in spite of our failures also. Today’s key verse tells us we are called to strive for perfection, but, let’s be real, none of us will ever be perfect. But hear me when I say, that’s no excuse to not strive for it!

The next day we got up and gathered another set of cows, got them in the pens, and Marshall stepped into the gate on his great horse Paint. Out of 119 pairs, Marshall and Paint stripped every cow perfectly—not letting one calf get by. It was so much fun to watch them accomplish perfection that I lost sight of my own imperfection. In that moment, I was just happy to be in the same pen as them.

This is true with Jesus too. His perfection covers our imperfection. And get this: Jesus Christ wasn’t just perfect one day—He was perfect his whole life! God sent His only Son, Jesus, to earth to live a perfect life, only to die a miserable death. Why? So that our imperfections, our sin, and our failures could be covered. Remember this: Even though we serve a perfect God, He uses imperfect people to fulfill His perfect will. Praise Jesus!

C H E W  O N  T H I S 

Are you allowing your fear of failure to keep you from doing your best for God? Are you allowing your past to hold you back? Today’s the day to start striving again. Not for acceptance or to work your way into heaven, but in response to what all Jesus has done for you. Get your eyes off of your imperfection and place them on the only perfect person to ever walk the face of the earth, Jesus.

P R A Y E R 

Jesus, thank you for being my perfect Savior. Thank you for challenging me to strive to be the best that I can be. I give you my sin, my failure, and my fear, and I ask that you would help me to press on and fulfill the purpose you have for me. I’m ready to give you my best.

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