22 Minutes
Psalms 138:8
This text charms me. It contains in itself the very essence of the grace of God. It reads like music to the soul, and is like a flagon of water in the desert. May I ask you to read it again... Let’s spiritually understand this statement. It literally means “be complete”. We are to, with all our spiritual might, reach a singular level of maturity in our growth in terms of spiritual integrity. Moral excellence, upright righteousness are imaged attributes of God. We are to be devotedly and eminently set apart as we run hard after God. And it’s not just us...God wants a holy people. Jesus says to be perfect, the belief would be that he would not require us to do something that is impossible for us to achieve. Please do not allow doubt to blind you. There is a special work of the Holy Spirit that God assigns us whereby we can have victory over all sin, over all intentional sin. Perfectionism is not that target. The ongoing struggle with sin has to be met with “it is written”. Can a person be perfect? Even Hezekiah walked with a perfect heart.
Job 1:1 Genesis 6:9
Being perfect is finding it never, ever necessary on any occasion to choose to sin. It is being diligent in our behavior. It is not some metaphase that transforms the structural composition of our bodies. Too many are fiercely self-critical as opposed to trusting in the word of God. Please, have no grief in misunderstanding. Jesus expects us to be all that we are supposed to be. The sorrow for our sins is to be perfect in our truthfulness with God and with ourselves. The enmity that God gave us perfects our hatred for sin. It ensures that God is loved above all else. You are not inadequate when you are in Christ. Jesus was enjoining us to be perfect and praying that we be made perfect, for perfect love perfects us, perfect contrition perfects us, perfect suffering perfects us, perfect obedience perfects us. Being perfect is Christ’s life manifested through us.
Matthew 5:48 John 17:23
God knows how we receive His word to rise above our broken natures. And He gives us the grace to share in His power. By the power of God’s promise, we become what we were made to be: partakers of the divine nature.
II Peter 1:4
Perfection is not more of a concern about actions we perform to a certain level, spiritual perfection is about becoming totally dependent on God, letting Him work through us to perform His will, not ours. It is not concerned about “self.” We don’t have to make ourselves perfect. It is God who perfects us in Jesus Christ. It is in our reconciliation with God by Christ, that God sees us perfect. We may, or will make missteps, but remember, the perfection spoken of in scripture is not about what we do; it’s about what Christ does in us.
Hebrews 6:1
We must not lose them, we must not despise them, we must not forget them. We must lay them up in our hearts, and lay them as the foundation of all our profession and expectation; but we must not rest and stay in them, we must not be always laying the foundation, we must go on, and build upon it.
Philippians 3:12-15
Hear this word, “this one thing I do”... Blessed are we who can give this same personal testimony. We have received permission from the Almighty God to go on to perfection. We are apprehended of the life of Christ in all its fullness. The life of Christ, which we have attained to so far, does not stop us from further heavenly pursuits. The race of following Christ is not something we have to do, ought to do, or must do; it is something we are permitted to do, something that is “privileged.” We serve in the newness of the Spirit and the result of its work is our sanctification. Our exit from this earthly life becomes a rich entrance into an eternal life. The powers of an eternal life, exampled by Christ, have already increasingly permeated our mind and life. Our life is a testimony of love and devotion to our God and to our Savior. It is as we have given each other our “yea, yea,” and our desire is to be united for all eternity. This is also by permission of our God.
The truth of being made perfect is in our faith in the imputed and imparted righteousness of Jesus...God restoring us to favor. With this favor is God’s enabling grace, that moral power to obey with high regard His every commandment. This faith makes us right with the law of God. This is how God saves as many as desire to be saved. He transfers His own righteousness to us. This is what adorns the change in our spiritual nature whereby we can be made perfect. Just take a moment and contemplate the power received in reasoning with God. The believing family of God now present are the very ones who can know truth as it is in Jesus. Use your faith in the truth to act as a staff whereon we may rest through the pilgrimage of the most dreadful times and events ever to come upon humanity. Perfection was to be the heritage of mankind. In the very bowels of the prayer of Jesus is that promise that is ours. We are to now have a concern, in and a concern about heavenly things. We are to know that eternity concerns us more than time; that the mansions of heaven are more worthy of our consideration than the material stuff of earth. Immortality looms brilliantly before us and we’re casting more hope toward these perishing bodies.
Faith is knowing that the life of the present is preparation for the ultimate perfecting when we see Jesus. This faith means that we have no perfection and no righteousness of, and in ourselves; that we must trust wholly and solely in Christ. The things that concern God must concern us...that is His perfecting us. We must appropriate the things the Holy Spirit is guiding us into and teaching us as though we are concerned. Any delay in our faith is the sign of spiritual retardedness. We should, each of us, put one hand upon our heart and lift the other to God and say, without stammering, as in the sight of God; "I am concerned about the things of God, of Christ, of salvation, of eternity. I may not yet understand His assurance, but I have concern. If I cannot say, I know in whom I have believed, I can say I know in whom I desire to believe. If I cannot say, I know that I am where I must be, I can say I desire that I may be found in him at last, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." And I say this to my soul; suffer Christ not to take any part of his precious perfecting; it is all mine. Jesus was manifested to show us the Father, but his blood, his life was manifested that we might see the Father. Brothers, sisters, I just cannot hold this any longer...there is this most secret place, even more secret than a mother’s womb, that God has revealed to me, that irregardless of any circumstance, I might view from the perspective of perfection every discernible sufficiency that God makes available for my being made perfect. Christ himself...HE IS THE SECRET PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH GOD. We must endeavor to do all righteousness that is found in him.
Psalms 18:24
There can be no cleanliness apart from the blood of Christ; and we can never be purified apart from the purifying operations of the Holy Ghost. Being made perfect is having the work of God in our heart. And the spirit of prophecy records as it is the testimony of Jesus, that what human power can do divine power is not summoned to do. God makes a way that in our flesh we can be born of the Spirit. The human power is the choice to accept that power of God...grace. And with God’s grace we are to celestially focus on His word, we are to suck all the sweetness from every word, that our faith becomes so strong, and our love so hot, that there is no “if’s” or “buts”, about our being made perfect, it is as “though” He has done it all, and will do it all.
We must come to trust God as far as we can see Him. And we see God in all things. When there’s no food to eat, we see Him in the ravens coming. And if the ravens do not come, we see Him in the faith of His word...bread, water will be sure. When death threatens to end life, we see His promise of eternal life. We cannot wait to believe the thing of perfection until we get it, we have no doubt that we have the perfecting now. We take the “Lord will” as it is future. The “Lord will” is now. Everything is always present with the Lord. We say not “the Lord may make us perfect”. We say rather, “the Lord will make us perfect”. That means “now”. If we would only accept the fragrant aromatic incense of the priviledge of a confident faith. Have we not witnessed how the purposes of God are being fulfilled in our higher learning? The purposes of man will be defeated.
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