December 14

Read: Hebrews 12:1-2 Let us run with patience the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1).

Let Us Run With Patience

Christian perfection does not mean that we have won the race; rather it means that we have

(3) accepted God’s perfect provision to do our best running,

This was Paul’s testimony: “My brothers, I do not consider myself to have ‘arrived,’ spiritually, nor do I consider myself already perfect. But I keep going on, grasping ever more firmly that purpose for which Christ Jesus grasped me” (Philippians 3:12, Phillips). Yet three verses later Paul identified himself and his readers as perfect. “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded” (3:15).

The Bible teaches that our hearts may be filled with perfect love for God. We can love God in a way that is entirely pleasing to Him. But a part of this attitude of perfect love is that we shall strive to serve Him better tomorrow than we did today. A static experience could never be perfect for a growing person. Paul urges us to “be thus minded” — to believe this way. If any man omits the necessity of growth from his doctrine of Christian perfection, he is neither Wesleyan nor Biblical.

The Amplified New Testament renders our text, “Let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence.” Adam Clarke comments on it: “Let us start, run on, and continue running, till we get to the goal.”

Affirmation For Today

In answer to my prayer for entire sanctification God gave to me a spirit of love that I never knew before. I do now love God above all else. Today I desire to know His will and to do it fully. I expect Him to show me tomorrow some things I do not know today. I have promised that I shall walk in the light He gives. By His grace I shall keep that promise. (More tomorrow)