Does God really want me to be perfect? Absolutely perfect? Without sin? Holy? Jesus calls for us to 'be ye perfect'. Then the Bible also tells us that he who says he is without sin is a liar. The Bible never contradicts itself. It is one perfect flow of a cohesive message from start to finish. So either Christ is frustrating me with His commands to be what I cannot, or I am missing something.
Through many years and faith and struggle, I finally see what I was previously missing. It was Grace. The simple love, patience and grace of my God.
Look at the description of Asa in 1 Kings 15:14. "Although he did not remove all the high places, Asa's heart was perfect towards the Lord all his life" In other words, although he did not eliminate all sins, Asa was holy (perfect). His performance wasn't perfect (sinless, blameless), his devotion to God was. So, being holy does not mean a perfect life. Only Christ displayed a perfect performance or, lived a perfect life. Only He knew no sin.
Asa's devotion to God was perfect. He was surrendered to God and determined to obey Him to the full extent of his own awareness. In 2nd Chronicles, we see King Amaziah living as a man of outstanding moral behavior, but not living with a perfect heart, or devotion to God. He was living for his own self justification, pride and self benefit. He wanted to look good to others.
Asa was determined to live for God daily, in all areas of his life. This is a relationship. Not a religion. Not a set of rules. A relationship with the living God. Paul reflects this in the New Testament as he states "I die daily to Christ".
We learn in Romans that now that we are born again (or just plain Christians), there is no way we should ever go on living in sin. For the wages of sin is death. Eternal death. The solution to perfect living is to commit daily to Christ. Christ's promise is to be with us and in us. By this, God gives us what we lack on our own. Living a holy life is not about trying harder, our greater self discipline. It is not about living only by rules and self righteousness. It is a matter of allowing the Spirit to work through us.
By accepting Christ and the gift of His spirit, we change the center of our lives from ourselves. Away from our selfish ambitious own desires of pride, wealth, abundance of things, and the general 'me, myself and I' attitude. The Spirit helps us fix our lives on Christ so that we become holy and blameless in His sight. This power unleashed is us, frees us from self serving, self pleasing attitudes that are never satisfied. Their hold on us fades as we become alive to forgiveness, peace, love, kindness and a grateful attitude towards Christ. We are given a new life that we find more comforting, more gratifying and satisfying and more exciting than ever before. (Don't mock it until you have lived it !)We live not a perfectly performing self, but a self perfectly devoted to Christ. This is not self control, but God control.
It is a wonderful life, making it possible to live, as Ephesians tells us, as "God's masterpiece". Start in a relationship with Christ today. Or, continue to strengthen your friendship with Christ daily. He will never let you down.
