Note before sharing the devotional: I realized only now that I had already released this devotional, a week ago. Today’s post has more commentary, so I’ll simply re-release it as is. Be blessed.
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”Philippians 3:12-14 NKJV
You Don’t Have to Be Perfect
Maybe we started off the year strong, but now the halfway point is creeping up, and we’re realizing just how many Bible readings we’re behind– not to mention workouts skipped. To be honest, it’s easy to become apathetic, debating whether failed goals are worth continuing.
But, what if it doesn’t matter when you started or how consistent you’ve been, but that you tried at all? Not that you did it perfectly, but that you attempted.
In Philippians 3, Paul reminds us: we’re not going to get it right on our own, anyway. No matter our qualifications or efforts, we won’t be made perfect or complete without the work of Christ.
So, while we try our best to keep goals, it won’t work out every time. What really counts is being obedient to the call God’s placed on our lives. Sometimes that means pressing on as well as we can.
Observations from the Text:
- We can’t be perfect or complete on our own (v. 12)
- Christ’s death and resurrection make us perfect (v. 12)
- Our past failures shouldn’t keep us from stepping into what God has for us (v. 13)
- “The prize” is union with Jesus! (v. 14)
Note after sharing the devotional: I recall perfection being something that was expected of me growing up, something that I’ve carried with me to this day, because of how sharply it was impressed on me. Now, to be clear, what “perfection” entailed had some interesting parameters: perfect behavior, despite the immense pain that I had been and still was experiencing from all manner of different sources; perfection in terms of accomplishing my tasks (i.e. homework) but not necessarily perfection in terms of how well I did it; perfection in terms of singing the right notes at the right time for the right duration (I was in a church choir through high school), but not necessarily in terms of learning how to sing with proper vocal technique and skill. And, as part of Gen Y (I mean, the “Millennial” generation), having to be “always on,” not because I was explicitly told but because it was constantly—and I mean, constantly—modeled for me as something that must be done. (How would I reasonably be expected to understand anything different since I was never* taught anything about how to socialize with people?)
[*See this post and this post for a further explanation regarding my use of “never” in this context.]
Anyway, the point of all this is that not only do we not have to be perfect, but we cannot be perfect, not on our own strength. Yes, the Bible does say this:
“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”Matthew 5:48 NKJV
But the context is Jesus’s command to love one’s enemies, like so:
“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?”Matthew 5:44, 46-47 NKJV
In other words, one’s love for others must be perfect. But not one’s performance. The Pharisees did a good job emphasizing perfect performance, and even Jesus had to say this about them:
“For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”Matthew 5:20 NKJV
The Pharisees were great performers, but they did not love others, especially those who they considered “lower” than them:
“Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’”Matthew 23:1-7 NKJV
Other key verses from Jesus’s rebuke of the Pharisees:
““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”Matthew 23:23 NKJV
““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.”Matthew 23:25 NKJV
“Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”Matthew 23:28 NKJV
The point is, only with Jesus’s perfect righteousness can we be perfect, and even that is a gift that must be freely received, and not anything that can be earned:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV
Because after all:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.””Romans 1:16-17 NKJV
In other words, the Gospel reveals the righteousness of God. And what is the righteousness of God? Not what, but rather Who: and that is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is perfection. As for how we can live up to His standard of perfection:
1. Believe.
“Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.””John 6:29 NKJV
In other words, believe in Jesus that He is Who He says He is, and believe what the Bible says about Him.
“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.””John 7:38 NKJV
2. Abide.
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”John 15:4-5 NKJV
Prayer: Father God, in the name of Jesus, I lay down my need to be perfect and “always on,” never allowing myself a chance to rest. I take up instead the perfection of Christ. Amen.