Perfecting part 2
What does it mean to be perfected, in the sense that we are already perfect? Well, in the picture of us as the house that God lives in, it means "complete furnishing." Where the carpenter Jesus tore down the old house (old man) and raised up the new house (New Man) and decided what fit inside and what didn't. So it's not that we need MORE perfecting. It's simply that we need to let go of some things. Like... our past. Or dead works. Religion. Our view of ourselves outside of God. You know, the sin that so easily besets us. And I love that picture of us as the house that God built. I love it in the Message Bible where it talks about God moving into the neighborhood. But there's another picture I like probably just as good. The picture of the garden. Look at John 20:15, after Jesus rose again from the grave: "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away." The first thing that popped into Mary's head was, "This must be the gardener." And in fact it WAS the gardener. Because WE are the secret garden in the Song of Solomon. And what happened on the cross, in a sense, was that the garden got pruned. Now, look, I say it happened 2,000 years ago, and it did. But it also FEELS like it is happening day by day. When in fact what is really happening is the REVELATION of what already happened. The MANIFESTATION of what took place on that old rugged cross. Jesus doesn't need to prune you. The work is finished. But this "perfecting," or this maturation process, is when the light shines and shows you what has already been done. John 15:2 says, "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." So it feels like there's this constant ebb and flow. Where some things are being pruned back and some things are being nurtured. It feels like we're not complete, but we KNOW that we ARE complete. So what's really happening is, as we become of aware of what HAS been taken away, and what HAS been purged (with fire, perhaps? The consuming fire that IS God...), we aren't becoming MORE perfect. You can't BECOME more perfect. What's happening is that you're beginning to SEE what perfection IS. God told Abraham, "...I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect" (Genesis 17:1). And He wasn't giving Abraham mission impossible. He wasn't saying, "Walk in front of me and don't mess up or I'm going to get you." He was telling Abraham HOW to be perfect. Because the word, "before," is number 6440 in Strong's Hebrew Concordance and it means, "the face." He was telling Abraham, "Walk facing me." Or, "Look me in the face. And see MY perfection. Look in the mirror and see my perfection... in you. And then BE what you SEE!" The gardener lovingly worked until the garden was finished. Until it was perfect. And now--as the wind of the Holy Spirit blows, and stirs up what inside the garden--He can enjoy the fruit of His labor. As WE enjoy the fruit of His labor. The fruit of the Spirit. Which, of course, is love!