Perfection, something we know very little about. When something is perfect there is nothing else needed. It is complete. One of my hobbies is oil painting. I don’t have the opportunity to do it often, but when I do, I sometimes struggle with completing a painting. When I finally get to the point that it looks complete it is a welcome, yet strange feeling. It is the point of perfection for that painting. I know I have arrived at this point when I stare at the painting with brush in hand and can’t see anywhere that I need another brush stroke. It’s the point where one less, or one more stroke, would mess it up.
While an artist is the master of his canvas, God is the master painter of our lives if we will surrender our life as a canvas for Him to fill. Part of His plan is to perfect our lives. He wants to mold us into the image of His Son Jesus.
Romans 8:29 “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
To conform us He must be changing or perfecting us until the day we die. To perfect us is to complete us. Just like the painting that didn’t need, one more, or less stroke, God desires us to have a life that is complete in Him. He is the Master artist.
In Hebrews 13:20-21, God’s plan is to perfect us. He is going to supply what is missing and give us what we need to live a life of service to Him. He will work in and through us, to accomplish His will. However, we must be willing to be like the canvas, willing to be blank of ourselves, ready to receive the brush strokes of the master painter.
Hebrews 13:20-21 “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
In I Peter 5:10, part of the perfecting process will involve trials. We will suffer things that God allows so that we may be strengthened by them. He wants to establish us, to stabilize us so that we are steadfast and moving in the right direction toward Him. The word establish is the same word used to describe Jesus’ unswerving commitment to head for the cross, resurrection, and ascension that awaited Him in Jerusalem. (Luke 9:51)
I Peter 5:10 “And the God of all grace, who called you unto his eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall himself perfect, establish, strengthen you.”
Luke 9:51 “And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,”
Another aspect of the perfecting process is the strengthening of our lives. There is a strength required that we do not have within ourselves. He wants us to draw near to Him and the power we need will be supplied.
Ephesians 3:16 “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;”
We must remember that as His child His strength is greater than anything this world has to offer.
I John 4:4 “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
Another part of perfecting us is for us to be grounded. We are to mature and be relentless in our pursuit to follow Christ until the end. We are to be settled and content in Him. To be grounded in His ways, in love.
Ephesians 3:17 “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,”
If we will allow the Master to paint us, our trials will draw us to Him, our strength will increase, the perfecting of us will conform us to the image of Christ, and when others see that, God will be glorified. We will not reach total perfection until we reach Heaven, but God expects us to be changing daily, to be striving to reach the perfection that He will complete.
