David Kenney

I have always heard people say that they would like to be able to go back in time to see and listen to Jesus. And while on the surface that sounds amazing, I am not so sure it would be healthy. I think instead of listening to his words, we would be more interested in watching how he acted; and I believe you and I would be more surprised by his actions and be constantly muttering to ourselves, “I can’t believe he said that/did that.”

We, like the Pharisees would be scrutinizing his every twitch and gesture – or we would be looking for ways to emulate him. Did he pray before he ate, how did he fold his hands, at what moment did he close his eyes, did he whisper, and when did he exhale? I think we would desperately try to follow the “model” of perfect holiness and we would try to copy the life of perfect glory.

How do we live as ‘alive’ people who reflect the glory and blessing of God today? I think a lot of us would admit that we don’t. Or there would be a good number of people who would say that we ‘can’t.’ And I think we all subconsciously know that God forgives our shortcomings. Sure, we should live righteous lives – but we don’t and God forgives us for it. Yea, I can be rude and negative and materialistic, I can gossip about my neighbor and I can live selfishly – because God forgives us. Even the other day, I heard one of my church friends say, “God wants us to live perfect lives, but we can’t.” And I started to agree and then something didn’t feel quite right…

Is this some sort of cruel joke? God wants us to live perfect lives, but he knows we can’t so he wants us to live instead in imbalance and frustration? I can’t imagine God luring us with righteousness only to jerk it away when it is just within our grasp.

Consider what Paul writes in Romans 6, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? … If we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin…Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”

I include a lot of text here only to prove a point, this was written by a man who felt he was the “least of all the saints[1]” and the “chief of sinners[2].” And like you and I, Paul did not have the advantage of being able to see and listen to Jesus speak. And even though it may be easy for us to identify with Paul’s identity as a sinner, it is still hard for us to identify with Paul as a liberated instrument of righteousness.

Jesus is not instigating an impossible request when he declares, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.[3]” but rather he is affirming for you and for me the actuality that PERFECTION ALREADY EXISTS!

Therefore our holiness and perfection does not lie in how we pray or how we give or how often we read our bible. God is not judging or comparing our holiness to the life made perfect in his son, nor is our perfection a prize to chase only to grasp it on our death bed, but rather you and I exist right now as freed slaves, forgiven saints and perfect beings.

Remember:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness[4].”

“For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”[5]

Live therefore in confidence, live in freedom and live in grace.