“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48
Dear Ones:
The issue of perfection is a real problem…that is, for us who live in this world. It is a problem because there are laws, physical and spiritual, which are absolute, and we are not. The idea or concept of perfection, or perfectness, has its meaning and expression in at least two domains, that of PERFORMANCE and that of BEING. When Jesus Christ walked this earth, He was “perfect” in every aspect of his performance because His life was the perfect expression of His nature, what He was. With regard to what, and who, He was, He was perfect in every aspect of his being, without flaw, error, contradiction. In considering Him to be what he declared, God, He was the perfect representation and expression of eternal Goodness. If we define sin as being any thought, motive, or action of independence from the Divine Nature, we can say that Christ was in perfect conformity with what the Father was declared to be: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” (Rev. 4:8) Therefore, Christ IS perfection, proven and declared by what He was and is, proven by what He performed and accomplished. What does this knowledge have to do with us? It’s purpose is to bring us to the only One who IS, and ever shall be, perfect…in all of His wonderful being.
The gospel of Christ is the most extraordinary, and most blessed, message that has ever been delivered to man. In that revelation, preached throughout the centuries, and centered upon the person of Christ, there is revealed to us a wisdom from heaven that is life-changing. It is a message of perfecting the imperfect! How is this so? When the Lord Jesus entered into the “holy place” of heaven, after the resurrection, “…by His own blood,” He “…obtained eternal redemption for us.” (Heb. 9:12) In taking on human flesh, with all of its limitations and suffering, He walked and worked in the perfection of His uniqueness, without sin, without being “separated” from His Father by an independent attitude. His was a perfect life, lived in the power of the perfect Holy Spirit, before the Father “who is perfect.” When He entered into heaven with His own blood, He entered in with this perfect life, spent and given in a perfect way, that which alone could be accepted by a perfect God and Father. Not only did that precious blood wash away all sin for those who would believe, but it communicated the worth, the righteousness, of a perfect life to those who were imperfect…us, being devoid of all perfection. The perfect power of the blood of Christ cleanses perfectly, and justifies perfectly. So that, it is by HIS perfection that we are accepted before the Father, and by HIS perfect Life that we live by the Spirit. This is wonderful news for the imperfect soul who hears the Lord’s words: “The just shall LIVE by FAITH.”
Dear Father, perfect Father, give us to grasp our perfection in Christ, and to live by His perfect life…the Spirit. In our limitations, and sometimes sinfulness, give us to ever look to the Lord Jesus for our perfection, giving glory to Him for every manifestation of His perfect goodness. We praise You for Your infinite wisdom and love, and the revelation of Your perfection in Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad