Whether Christian Perfection is attainable in this life is a question of first importance.
There is a perfection that is not. The final perfecting of grace awaits its consummation in glory.
This is the perfection to which Paul said he had not yet attained, but to which he was ever pressing forward as the great end for which he was apprehended in Christ Jesus. That is the perfection of finality, whereas Christian Perfection is one of adjustment and completeness. It does not even imply maturity, much less finality. Christian Perfection is neither physical nor mental. It is in the heart, the motive, and the will. Can the love of God be perfected in the soul in this life? God commands it and expects it.
My Thoughts!
I talk to more Christians who have more excuses about their walk with God in recent months than ever before. Phrases like I am just getting into it or the Lord does not talk to me the way he talks to you are a constant verbiage in the church. Then there are the believers who feel running to the pastor for counsel will keep them on the straight and narrow path but then publicize their sin to the world. Who are you trying to fool? God has called you out from among them to be a separate people, a Holy Nation, and a Royal Priesthood.
Our walk in Christ is only hard when we try to do it in our own power but when we choose to give up self then God begins to operate in us and through us. Joshua said, “Choose you this day whom you will serve but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Jos 24:15 "And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Jos 24:16 So the people answered and said: "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods;
Jos 24:17 "For the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. Jos 24:18 "And the LORD drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God."
God does not want sacrifice but rather obedience. The word says,
1Sa15:22 So Samuel said: "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
Micah was faced with the same thing, see Micah 6
Mic 6:1 HEAR now what the LORD says:
"Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
And let the hills hear your voice.
Mic 6:2 Hear, O you mountains, the LORD's complaint,
And you strong foundations of the earth;
For the LORD has a complaint against His people,
And He will contend with Israel.
Mic 6:3 "O My people, what have I done to you?
And how have I wearied you?
Testify against Me.
Mic 6:4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
I redeemed you from the house of bondage;
And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
Mic 6:5 O My people, remember now
What Balak king of Moab counseled,
And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
From Acacia Grove to Gilgal,
That you may know the righteousness of the LORD."
Mic 6:6 With what shall I come before the LORD,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
Mic 6:7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
Mic 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Mic 6:9 The LORD's voice cries to the city--
Wisdom shall see Your name:
"Hear the rod!
Who has appointed it?
Mic 6:10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness
In the House of the Wicked,
And the short measure that is an abomination?
Mic 6:11 Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales,
And with the bag of deceitful weights?
Mic 6:12 For her rich men are full of violence,
Her inhabitants have spoken lies,
And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
Mic 6:13 "Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you,
By making you desolate because of your sins.
Mic 6:14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied;
Hunger shall be in your midst.
You may carry some away, but shall not save them;
And what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.
Mic 6:15 "You shall sow, but not reap;
You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
And make sweet wine, but not drink wine.
Mic 6:16 For the statutes of Omri are kept;
All the works of Ahab's house are done;
And you walk in their counsels,
That I may make you a desolation,
And your inhabitants a hissing.
Therefore, you shall bear the reproach of My people."
Billy Sunday 1862-1935
American evangelist
Let's quit fiddling with religion and do something to bring the world to Christ. If you want to drive the devil out of the world, hit him with a cradle instead of a crutch. I'm against sin. I'll kick it as long as I've got a foot, and I'll fight it as long as I've got a fist. I'll butt it as long as I've got a head. I'll bite it as long as I've got a tooth. And when I'm old and listless and footless and toothless, I'll gum it till I go home to Glory and it goes home to perdition!
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