It seems like this is a question of debate al around the world. Am I perfect? Jesus said to be as perfect as God. (See Matthew 5:48). When we think about it, it seems really overwhelming. Some may say it is not me that has to be perfect it is God that covers me with His perfection. Well, there is some truth to that but He does not cover unconfessed sin. If we are consciously sinning God is not going to cover us with His righteousness and make us perfect and holy because we can’t be unless we are in a condition for Him to cover us. So what does He mean when He says to be perfect.
I have been sick and when we get sick we tend to say that I got sick from so and so. When in reality is we have set up our bodies for it. When we know someone is sick around us and may need to minister to them (like I did my son, staying in his room because he was running a fever and he wanted me close). When we are in this position we really need to watch ourselves. We need to be doing things that will keep our immune systems up, knowing that we are being exposed very closely to sickness. Everywhere we go we are bombarded with sickness. It may be at where we work, where we shop, anywhere we go. So we have to be on guard to keep our immune systems in peak condition. There are things we know we should never eat, drink, or do because it is very damaging to our immune systems. If we want to do these we can know that we have a risk of our immune systems not being “perfect” and we will eventually be affected by it. Then there are those things that are not bad in and of themselves but they can affect our immune system in a negative way. And if there is sickness going on around us, we put ourselves at high risk to do these things. I had a wonderful pie. It was a good healthy pie but any kind of sweets; even healthy sweets will lower your immune system. I knew it was a risk because just a couple of days before I had been fighting something but I did it anyway. That night I spent the night with my son who was running a fever and because I had lowered my immune system I could not fight it completely off. I did not get as sick as some have because I still put up a fight, but sick is sick.
You might be thinking, “What does this have to do with being perfect?” There are things in life that we need to choose not to do because we know that they lower our spiritual immune system. It is things that God has said for us not to do. It will take away our taste for spiritual things. It will take away our desire to spend time with Him. When we do these things our lives are susceptible to sin because our spiritual immune system is compromised and we have chosen to do it contrary to God’s Word.
There are things that are not wrong in and of themselves but at times we may need to stay away from them because they are compromising our spiritual immune system. Just like there is nothing wrong with a healthy pie, there is nothing wrong with canoeing but if we go canoeing instead of having our time with God in His Word we are compromising our spiritual immune system. It could be anything that gets in the way of our relationship with God. We are bombarded everyday with things that can take us down if our spiritual immune system is not healthy.
It is true that we can only be perfect with God but it is not with God being beside us or covering us with perfection. It is God having control of our lives, which we struggle with allowing Him to do. The fact is there is only One Person that will know that we are perfect and that is God. If we think we are perfect, forget it, we have already lost the battle. We just need to take one step at a time allowing the Lord to lead our lives moment by moment. Praise God that if we fail we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ. Just like we can get our physical immune systems back in order when we fail, we can do the same with our spiritual lives. I read something recently that I thought reflected true perfection, “Commitments are based on our control and conditions. Total, unconditional surrender is based on God’s control.” We need to let God have control and His perfection becomes ours.
Dear Father,
“Take my life, and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee; Take my hands, and let them move At the impulse of Thy love; At the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet, and let them be Swift and beautiful for Thee. Take my voice, and let me sing Always, only, for my King; Always, only, for my King. Take my lips, and let them be Filled with messages from Thee. Take my silver and my gold: Not a mite would I withhold; Not a mite would I withhold. Take my will, and make it Thine, It shall be no longer mine; Take my heart, it is Thine own, It shall be Thy royal throne. It shall be Thy royal throne. Take my love, my Lord, I pour At Thy feet its treasure store; Take myself, and I will be, Ever, only, all for Thee. Ever, only, all for Thee.” *
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Surrender all to Him today and let Him have full control.
Love you all.
What do you do to build your spiritual immune system? I would love to hear your ideas.
*The hymn, “Take My Life, And Let it Be”