Aiming at perfection is definitely a commendable trait. A carefree, shallow lifestyle makes one mediocre in every aspect of life. Especially, certain professions like medicine, engineering, etc., demand flawlessness even in minute details.
In spiritual life also such perfection must be our standard and goal. Notice the words of our Lord, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48)
Throughout the scripture we see such call for a blameless, perfect life. (Gen. 17:1; Lev. 11:44; 19: 2; Eph. 5:1; James 1:4; 1Peter 1: 15, 16; 1John 3:3, etc.) We have been exhorted to imitate our Lord in every area of life. Any conformity to the worldly fashions and fleshly desires has been rebuked repeatedly. (Rom. 12:2; 1Cor. 11:1; 1John 2: 15, 16)
Nevertheless, even as we long and cherish a faultless Christian life, we should not forget the following facts:
1. We can never be perfect as God, Job 9:2c, 20
“How can a man be righteous before God? Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse.” (Job 9:2c, 20)
Job, about whom God Himself testified to be blameless and upright (1:8), confesses it. Solomon too learned it from experience. (Ecc. 7:20) Paul proved it beyond doubt that both Jews and the Greeks have all come under sin and thus fall short of God’s standard. (Romans 3: 9 – 23)
Remember, when the word of God exhorts His people to be perfect as God, it is actually about the communicable attributes of God, like His love, mercy, holiness etc. (cf. Matt. 5: 43 – 47; 19:21; Luke 6:36; 1Pet 1: 15, 16)
Any claim of sinless perfection is foolishness and deception. Apostle John writes “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us…… we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1John 1: 8, 10b)
As we expect a faultless life like God we should not forget the inherent human incapability for the same.
2. Our perfection - if any - is in Christ alone, 2Cor. 5:21; Colo. 1:28; 2:9
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Cori. 5:21)
This is the thrust of the gospel; God graciously imputes the qualities of His Son Jesus Christ in the lives of anyone who confesses their sins and receives Christ as his Saviour and Lord.
The moment a sinner acknowledges the efficacy of the atoning sacrifice of Christ and calls upon Him for forgiveness and deliverance, the Lord of glory begins to dwell in them. That’s why Apostle Paul wrote, “Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” (Colo. 1: 27c, 28)
God finds us in Christ and reckons His righteousness as our own. (Rom. 3:24; 1Cor 1:30). Today we are able to love and live like Christ only because He lives within us to equip and empower us. (Eph. 3:19; 2Cor. 3:5; Phil. 4:13)
3. Perfecting divine nature within us is an on-going process. Phil. 1:6
“Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it ..... ->>>More
Out line:-
Five Looks of Jesus
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Look of Compassion—On the Perishing. Matt.9:36
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Look of Desire—on the Healed one. Mark. 5:32
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Look of Complacency – on His own. Mark. 3:34
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Look of Anger – On the hardened sinner. Mark. 3:5; Act.13:8—11
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Look of Pity – on a backslider. Luke. 22:61
Anecdote: -
Full Pardon Refused
In the early 1800’s, one George Wilson was sentenced to be hanged till death for some serious crime. His relatives approached President Andrew Jackson with a mercy petition and subsequently he issued a full pardon to the criminal. But arrogant Wilson refused presidential pardon. The jail authorities were confused, what to do, to hang him or not.
The matter reached the Supreme Court. Justice John Marshall declared, “The value of the pardon depends upon its acceptance. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged.” And Wilson was hanged.
— Source: Unknown
Exhortation: -
When Trials Come!
By Bro.Tom Johns, USA
God wants His people to be patient. The premature death of a loved one will not be the end of His plan for us. A handicapped child may bless our spiritual life at the end. A humiliating experience may bring glory later.
True Stories
I know of a Christian couple who takes care of three grown children with “fragile X syndrome.” I talk with those parents often. They take turns coming to church, since at least one person must be with the children at all times. Now the children are in their twenties. Both the boys are around 6 feet tall and physically well built. The girl is a little more manageable, yet needs constant care.
All in all, they have 3 physically grown children with childlike mental capabilities. The parents’ lives are confined to the neighborhood they live in. They hardly could take a vacation together in the last twenty five plus years. The boys tend to break household furniture when they are excited, so they do not even have good furniture in the house. The father or mother has to rise around 4 a.m. every morning to make breakfast and feed the boys. They get hungry often and more than normal children.
This has been their life 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for twenty plus years. Yet I see them with smiles and in cheerful spirits. I am not sure why God gave them these 3 children. These parents take care of them like precious gifts from God. They know that they bear the image of God, although they carry around seriously marred emotions and underdeveloped brains in their “overgrown” bodies.
I also know of a young man, barely forty years old, whose doctors have confirmed he must use the “self-cath” procedure to empty the bladder for the rest of his life due to dead or inactive nerves. One of his family members, who is from a different Christian denomination, visited and assured him that if he were to join their group, his sickness would be healed! But this young man knew better and did not heed that advice.
When I am dissatisfied with my lot, I often think of these dear saints, and it helps me jump up from my pity pot.
Miracles and Miraculous Healings
When we fail to see God’s goodness even in the midst of trials, we drift into doubts and fears….
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Worthy Quotes:-
Perfectionism
“I fear much that many, in their horror of perfectionism, reject perfection too.”
__________ Andrew Murray
“It is obviously futile to look for a Church totally free from faults.”
__________ - John Calvin
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