December 17

Read: Hebrews 13:20-21

Now the God of peace… make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight (Hebrews 13:20-21)

The Prayer For Christian Perfection

“The outworking of God’s pleasure is consequent upon the inworking of God’s power. God works in and upon us that He might work with and through us. It is precisely this thought which underlies the prayer for Christian perfection. God is petitioned to make believers perfect by working in them, and the result is their being equipped ‘in every good work to do His will.’

“When we meet God we are not what we should be, but He takes us as we are and makes us what we ought to be. The convicted sinner is aware of how far short he falls only in relation to violated law, in outward conduct. His cry is for pardon. The justified believer becomes acutely and painfully aware of a deeper and inner lack of correspondence to the character and will of a holy God, and he cries for cleansing.

“The words ‘make you perfect’ are translated by Adam Clarke, ‘Put you completely in joint.’ The bone is not bad and does not call for removal. It is out of place and calls for adjustment, that it might perform its proper function. The experience of Christian perfection involves the adjusting and rectifying of all the passions and faculties of my human personality, which are disordered by sin. When this happens the body properly serves my mind, the mind serves my spirit, and my spirit serves God. All the forces and faculties of my personality are ‘tuned up’ to do the will of God, This ‘tune up’ gives me a smoother running human motor.

“Perfection, then, is setting all of my faculties into proper relation to one another, thus equipping me to do the will of God without discord or division. There is no friction or frustration in the heart, where God’s will confronts my will” (W. E. McCumber).