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Through Christ we are made perfect!

Perfection

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That selfie? Oh, maybe if you add a filter or pose differently. Your social account is filled with photos that you’ve touched up or manipulated using another app. You want to look perfect to everyone viewing your posts.

A group of special friends comes over for dinner. You spend hours preparing for the meal. You vacuum your house or apartment. You bring out the best dishes in your cabinet. You want everything to be just perfect. Any food improperly cooked or signs of a dirty house could take away from the specialness of the evening. Everything must be perfect.

Our desire for perfection can be seen not only in the home but also in the workplace. Your employer expects you to do your job well. Mistakes will cost the company time and money. If a company is to run efficiently and profitably, everything must be just so, perfect. Further, you feel the best when you have done your job perfectly. And what about your leisure time? What is it that keeps you coming back to play that round of golf again and again? Isn’t it those few perfect shots in a round that motivate you to return again and again?

The God of the universe also is one who expects perfection in the people he has created. The Bible says, “Be perfect, for I the Lord your God am perfect” (Matthew 5:48). God knows that if his people are going to be what he expects them to be, they will be perfect.

The big problem here, as we all know, is that none of us is perfect. The word “holy” is fundamentally defined as being “set apart”—completely separate and distinct from sin and imperfection. To be holy is to be perfect. Only the Lord our God is perfect. God is Holy. God sent his one and only Son to save us from our sins. The good news? Through Jesus, we are made perfect.

We are made perfect through Christ.

Some of that food that we prepared for those guests doesn’t always turn out right, our house has dirt and germs even though we clean it often. That perfect golf shot slices and ends up just off the green. The assignment at work ends up with a mistake or two. The same holds true in our relationship with God. He has given us 10 commandments. But we break them. We say harsh words. We think bad thoughts. Being the just God that he is, our God must punish us. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Fortunately, a person named Jesus came into the world. He wanted to rescue us. Thus, he lived a perfect life. And that perfect life has been credited to us. We receive Christ’s perfection as our own. Then he died a death for all the times we messed up and weren’t perfect.

Jesus is God’s perfect solution to our imperfection.

Read the 10 commandments in the Bible

  • Exodus 20:1-17
  • Deuteronomy 5:6-21
  • Romans 13:8-10

Passages referencing the commandments

  • 1 John 5:3 “In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome”.
  • John 15:10 “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love”.
  • Ecclesiastes 12:13 “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind”.
  • John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commands.”
  • Proverbs 3:1-2 “My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.”

Will God still love me if I’m not perfect?

  • Hebrews 10:14 “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
  • Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
  • 2 Corinthians 12:9 “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
  • 1 John 1:8-9 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
  • Psalm 103:10-12  “…he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

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