Mending the Net

“Perfect” can sound like a frightening word. When we hear it, we think of something with no flaws at all. But that is not what Paul meant here.

The Greek word means to mend, to put back in working order what has been torn. Matthew uses the same word when Jesus finds James and John in a ship with their father, “mending their nets.” Paul uses it again in Galatians 6:1, where a man overtaken in a fault is to be restored.

So when Paul prayed that he might “perfect that which is lacking,” he was not saying the faith of the Thessalonians was worthless. Timothy had just come back with good news. They were standing fast under affliction, and Paul was glad. But their net had a few torn places. They were confused about the Lord’s return, and they were grieving loved ones who had died. Paul longed to come to them and mend those places.

That shows us how God works. He does not throw away a torn net. He mends it.

Your faith has held, and the Lord has used it. But there may be a place where it has torn. It might be a promise you have quietly stopped believing, or a command you have read many times but never obeyed.

That is no reason for shame. It is simply the place the Lord wants to mend next. Paul did that mending by praying for them and writing to them. God still mends us the same way, through His Word, through prayer, and through His people.

So do not hide the torn place. Bring it to Him.