“A Soul Seeking…PERFECTION?… Really!
Ok, before you get all nervous or start moving down a mental spiral about this week’s topic, take a breath!
Breath. Clear your mind of preconceptions. Breath. Let the grace we found in the last blog post ground you in this moment. Breath!
Let the heart and voice of God meet you in this moment with this verse found in
Psalms 46:10 NLT
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
And… He will be exalted in and through our imperfect lives!
To frame our conversations and even the conversion of our perspectives, let us share a common definition of the word “PERFECT.”
Oxford dictionary defines perfect as…
“having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be”
That definition does not sound so bad… “as good as it is possible to be” would suggest that there is some room for GRACE. That there is a reasonable expectation, and that there is room for what may not be possible.
So how does this possibility relate to Christianity?
Well, I am glad you asked!
John Wesley helps us understand the relationship between God’s grace and the responsibility of the Christian disciple to cooperate with God in the process of sanctification so they we can attain and operate in CHRISTIAN PERFECTION.
It is first important for us to reaffirm that any capacity we have is GIVEN by God as a gift and this capacity is coupled with His GRACE.
Remember in our last post we discussed that…
the “doing” is not ours to direct or accomplish, it is ours to respond and reciprocate. God FIRST & ALWAYS moves towards us and draws us to Himself.
As Christians we are to respond to and cooperate with the sanctifying grace that God gives that is intended to help us grow and be transformed (or reformed) into the image and likeness of the Triune God.
And what is the most complete (perfect) “element, quality, or characteristic” of the Triune God?…
LOVE!
John Wesley’s teachings on Christian Perfection was simply that we disciples would avail ourselves to the sanctifying grace of God through the Holy Spirit in order that we may be “perfected in love.”
Seeking PERFECTION as a disciple of Christ is to seek to be “habitually filled with LOVE of God and neighbor.”
As the Holy Spirit and our participation in the means of grace (prayer, reading the scriptures, and the partaking in the ordinances/sacraments) continues shape us into the holy image of the Triune God, we are then postured to PERFECTLY reflect their PERFECT image of love to the world around us.
Come journey to PERFECTION in and through LOVE…with me!
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