People who paint pictures, artists aim for perfection and beauty. They are seldom satisfied. People who make things out of wood are the same, constantly examining their work and working toward perfection. Those who play musical instruments practice and practice to get more skilled at their playing. Athletes that we watch in the Olympics strive for perfection in their performance to be the best in the world. That is how it is in every area of life, and it illustrates what our pursuit of character ought to be like; we want to be like Jesus. We aren’t critical of ourselves to the point that it causes us to be depressed, to be overly down on ourselves, or to have unhealthy self-worth. But we are honest with where we are as people in our growth so that we are motivated to make a concerted effort to improve every day. We want, want, want to be perfect, grown up, like Jesus.
I played a clarinet in my High School band. There were nine clarinet players, and we were ranked in ability. The top three played first-chair music, the following three played second-chair music, and the last three played third-chair music. The first chair players played the melody part and had all of the solo parts. Once a month, we could challenge the player above us. We would both be behind a curtain and play the same music, and the whole band would vote on who played the best. The top player for the years I was in the band was Sarah Coffenberry; nobody ever beat her. My problem was that I spent way more time hunting and fishing than practicing my clarinet. That is often our trouble in life; we spend so much time pursuing the things in the world that we have little time or energy left to seek Jesus. When we step into heaven, we will bring our character, not anything from the world.