Thank God, he’s a perfectionist

Thank God, he’s a perfectionist.
Why else would he go to such lengths to correct things? He knows things can be better, should be better. He’s not satisfied that people live lives less than he originally gave.
Thank God, he’s a realist.
The solution he provides is not a case of wishful thinking, rather it deals with life in all its raw reality.
A material example:
God says to his people “There will be no poor among you.” And then “There will never cease to be poor in the land.” (Deuteronomy ch15 verses 4 and 11).
That is, the nation operating within his commands should have no poor because his laws make ample provision for all. Conversely, in an imperfect world such laws will always be required, and significantly, the condition of the poor matters to the King of the Universe.
Read the Bible and you’ll see the poor are high on his agenda. His laws to the Israelites on tithing and gleaning, Sabbath and Jubilee years all make provision for the poor. His book of wisdom, Proverbs (a fantastic book), reveals his heart repeatedly. ‘He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honours God.’
This is a priority for God. Even to the point that divinely appointed religious duties lose their value if they come without social justice. In Isaiah chapter 58 the people ask
'Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?' God replies ‘Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?... if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.’
A chief characteristic of the early Christian community was their care for one another. Read of it in the book of Acts ‘Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.’
This is all possible for those who have their hearts set on treasures that are literally out of this world. Everyone one can exercise a good and beautiful concern for the poor, and it’s great when they do, but there’s something about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I believe, that has the capacity to untie the heart from the earth and free it to love as God loves. So that those commended in the New Testament for their giving are those who gave beyond their financial ability. I’m thinking especially of the widow and her two small coins, and the Macedonian church. While we may argue about 10% here or there, God has commended those who give beyond their ability. We might be tempted to suggest these people were being simply irresponsible, but God commends them and holds them out as examples. Their hearts were elsewhere.
The thought of a life like this excites me. Excites me because of its beauty, and excites me because it is possible.
I’m far off from being anywhere near this. My life is too full of stuff and material priorities. But God the realist tells me to aim for perfection.
C S Lewis’ book The Great Divorce is not one I would recommend in all honesty. However, the major image, and a valuable one, is of heaven being fundamentally more tangible than anything else, to the point that the visitors feel themselves to be mere ghosts who hardly bend the blades of grass on which they walk.
Oh, for a life that has its reality in the right place.