An Imperfect Return
By Anthony Casperson
7-27-24

When it comes to RPG character builds, some adamantly claim that for one to be good, they have to take this one specific path of choices. We call these people min-maxers. Those who take the stance that if you don’t take these exact skills and feats, precisely as they dictate, then you’re playing the game wrong.

But I feel the need to question what they think the purpose of a game is. What did the designers of the game want players to experience?

Games are meant for fun. Sure, some can also add challenge, or a thought-provoking story, or camaraderie between players. But in general, an enjoyment of the experience is the desired effect. Not this personal idea of what perfection looks like while playing.

I could’ve spoken similarly about people who find “perfection” of play in several other manners. Like those who want to find ways to break the game through complex use of its mechanics. Or people who just want a friendly gathering of make-believe with as few rules as possible. And there are a number of other options.

But, regardless of the type of person I chose to use in my introduction, my point would remain the same. As long as the designed purpose of thing is followed, it is perfect. We don’t have to follow one’s specific ideas of perfection in order to play it “right,” as long as the core impetus of the designer is the path we tread.

One of the many complaints leveled against following Jesus speaks of a similarly problematic perspective. The idea that we need to be perfect. And there are just as many different ideas of “perfection” here as there are in games, if not more. The sheer number of people who could tell you that you’re doing it “wrong” is beyond comprehension.

That’s not to say that God doesn’t have a standard for his creation, or that he just lets us do whatever we please. No one who’s read many of these blogs would ever claim that I believe those lies.

But, what I do know is that the pursuit of holiness—of God’s perfect standard—should be our goal. Regardless of how many times we fall short of it. And regardless of the fact that none of us are ever going to reach that perfection on this side of the resurrection.

Yet that still doesn’t stop certain “perfection” seekers from acting like min-maxers who tell you that if you don’t start off with the perfect build then you’re doing it wrong. It doesn’t keep them from acting as if people who seek repentance from God have to be “perfect” before he’ll even deal with them. Nor does this prevent the spiritual min-maxers from condemning certain forgiveness seekers just because they didn’t do everything “right,” like how they told them.

As we come to 2 Chronicles 30:9, we see how this idea makes contact with our summer series. We’ve been looking at God’s self-proclaimed bio, “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” And how even in the midst of judgement and consequence, God’s steadfast love/covenant loyalty/grace still extends out to us. If we seek forgiveness. He won’t acquit the guilty, but he will forgive those who seek after him and his ways.

While we’ve looked at this topic from several different angles, and have seen how God’s proclamation of judgement is a call to repentance in the last blog from the book of Jonah, we have yet to witness the perspective of those who come to him in repentance after living through the repercussions of their actions.

This is where the people in 2 Chronicles 30 find themselves.

At this point in Israelite history, the 10 northern tribes had separated from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin—the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The Northern Kingdom had utterly and completely rejected the God of their forefathers. And God had sent the Assyrians—yes, the descendants of the very people to whom Jonah was sent, and the same people whom Joel had prophesied would come—to destroy the Northern Kingdom. The Assyrians were in the very late stages of destroying Israel and deporting most of the survivors.

Meanwhile, in the Southern Kingdom, the kings from the Davidic line led the people of Judah in a vacillating manner. Sometimes worshipping Yahweh, but quite often not. And Hezekiah—the king presented in our passage for today—began his reign calling the people of Judah back to God. A task that wasn’t the easiest, considering that his father had been among the worst of Judah’s kings when it came to leading God’s people into idolatry.

In Hezekiah’s first year as king, he called those of the priestly line in the land of Judah to cleanse themselves and the Temple. And it took so long that they missed the proper time for the Passover. But Hezekiah wanted to show the renewed heart in the kingdom by celebrating this holiday that commemorates God’s formation of his holy people. So, Hezekiah called the priests to ready the celebration a month late. It’s like celebrating Resurrection Sunday in May.

The people were repenting, but they weren’t doing it “right.”

Hezekiah also figured that with this extra time available, he should also invite those left from the Northern Kingdom of Israel who hadn’t yet been killed or deported by the Assyrians. They also were part of the same people who’d been made into the nation in that first Passover, after all.

The invitation called for those from the Northern Kingdom to repent, unlike their “stiff-necked” forefathers. They should return to the Lord so that “his fierce anger may turn away from you,” as 2 Chronicles 30:8 says. Return, repent, and seek forgiveness in order that they might find God’s compassion.

And then we get to verse 9 where we see part of God’s bio. “For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.” It’s not the complete bio of God that we’ve been looking at in our series. It’s not “perfect.” But it does understand the point of the bio.

And I think that kinda fits my point here.

Hezekiah understands the point of life’s Designer. The God who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounds in steadfast love and faithfulness doesn’t require us to be perfect before we turn to him in forgiveness. If he did, none of us would qualify.

Perfection might be what we’re called to, but that’s the finish line, not the starting line.

God is more than accepting of the Passover—which he proclaimed to be on a specific day in Israel’s calendar—to be celebrated on the wrong day, because the purpose of the celebration was still kept.

And not just that. In 2 Chronicles 30:18-20, we see that many of those from the Northern Kingdom who did come in repentance hadn’t properly purified themselves for the celebration. So, Hezekiah prays that God will still be pleased with their act of seeking forgiveness. That the purifying of their hearts would purify unclean hands. Even though it was wrong, according to the rules of cleanness.

And in verse 20, we see that the Lord heard Hezekiah’s prayer and healed the people.

Does that look like the “God of wrath” who so many claim he is in the Old Testament? Is that what a God who wants to punish us for every little infraction that we perform looks like? Should any of us ever think that the God shown in the OT is nothing but harsh and spiteful?

Or do we need to repent from that faulty view and return to this God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness?

Again, this isn’t to say that God doesn’t have a standard. Or that we can do whatever we please because God will forgive us. Rather, we should see the purpose in his willingness to forgive. We are frail beings who, in our fallenness, won’t get everything right all of the time. As a matter of fact, we’re more likely to get it wrong than right. A failing grade in every classroom other than God’s.

But because of his love, because of his loyalty to those with whom he’s made a covenant, the Creator of the universe extends a gracious hand. He will heal our brokenness, even when we’ve been smashed to a million bits. If we repent. If we seek that forgiveness.

We don’t have to be “perfect” in our repentance to find his holy forgiveness. Or clean ourselves of all the dirt on our hands. But once we’ve seen his holy perfection, why wouldn’t that be whom we seek to emulate? Why wouldn’t we then seek the perfection of the Designer’s purpose?

To any who find themselves far from God, I extend an invitation to repent. The same that Hezekiah sent to the people of Israel. Seek God’s forgiveness. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.