Perfecting part 4
Perfecting something (someONE) who is already perfecting is NOT about getting something you haven't got. It's about understanding what you HAVE got. It's about Jesus revealing your perfection, which is HIS perfection, to you, and in you, and through you, and as you. And here's the deal: Perfection manifests in charity. Love in action. Look at Matthew 5:48, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Once again, and as always, that's not Jesus giving us mission impossible. That's Jesus telling us HOW to do something. Remember, God told Abraham to walk facing Him and be perfect. It wasn't, "You better be perfect, because I'm watching you and I'll get you if you don't." It was, "Watch ME and SEE how to be perfect!" Because what you see is what you be. When we learn how we ARE loved by God, we learn HOW to love. Because His perfection is our perfection. We are not self-righteous. We are the righteousness OF GOD IN CHRIST. We are perfect, not because of what we do, but because of who we are. Let's link up that verse in Matthew with this verse in 1 John 4:17, "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." Our love is made perfect in Him. Because He is in us. When the Word (Jesus, love) is made flesh, or put into action. Charity. That's when our perfection (it's already inside) manifests. It comes out when we let ourselves be led by the Spirit. When we receive AND release the love of God. As He is. Be perfect as He is perfect. As He is, so are we in this world. He is perfect. And because of that we are perfecting. This idea of perfecting the saints isn't about taking something that's less than and somehow making it more. It's about unleashing what is inside us. Letting our true nature come forth as we begin to know and believe that He IS our true nature. Our true identity. The problem, as I mentioned a while ago in a different Rant series, is that human's have the ability of self deception. We can tell the truth, and we can lie. We can BELIEVE the truth... and we can believe a lie. So it's not, "I'm not perfect, but someday, if I work hard enough, I might be able to become perfect." That's the lie that the serpent whispered in Eve's ear in the garden of Eden. The lie that says, "You have to do in order to be." When the truth is, we do BECAUSE we be. We aren't perfect because of what we do. We're perfect because of who we are. Who we are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in us. And when we know that we are perfect (perfectly loved, if I can say it that way), we begin to do all of the things that (now) come naturally to us. We walk by faith. Because faith without works is dead. And faith works by love. So that works that work are not works and labor. The works that work are labors of love. There is nothing more perfect, or more holy, than one person loving another person. That's HOW we love God. We love Him by loving each other. And that's what HE does to us. He loves us. That's not just what He does, that's who He IS. And because that's who HE is, that's who WE are. We are perfect as He is perfect. Made perfect BY love, and made perfect through the ACT of love. Perfecting what is already perfect is just simply letting the love that's inside come out!