December 19

Read: Hebrews 13:20-21

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

The Meaning Of Christian Perfection

“Christian perfection is related to God’s plan for our lives. The prayer of our text is, ‘Make you perfect.., to do his will.’

“Many writers and preachers who oppose the doctrine fling the term about as though it were an absolute perfection, marking the end of all weakness and all progress. It is charged that if we are made perfect we cannot sin, cannot grow, cannot be tempted, and do not need the Lord’s Prayer for forgiveness. But for intelligent understanding the term must be used as the Bible uses it.

“It is useless to deny that perfection is commanded, illustrated, and promised in the Bible. But it is senseless to believe that God levies upon us the demands of absolute, angelic, or Adamic perfection. Christian perfection is a relative experience. It is not a final nor a flawless perfection. ‘It does not even imply maturity, much less finality.’ It is a perfection of fitness. It equips us to do the Will of God, and that not necessarily without mistake, but certainly without rebellion and resentment. This is all we mean by the term-that much, no more, no less.

“Christian perfection is full acceptance of, and hearty compliance with God’s will. This certainly implies the crushing of every lurking rebel to the will of God. It demands the destruction of the carnal mind, for that is ‘enmity against God.’ The scripture under consideration surely implies this state of grace: ‘working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight.’ Phillips translates it, “May He effect in you everything that pleases Him'” (W. E. McCumber).

Praise For Today

I rejoice that the spirit of conformity which God has put within me replies with a glad Amen. The heart from which God has removed rebellion embraces His divine will “in every good work.”