SWORD OF THE SPIRIT                                                                                               1182

“Perfect In Christ”

Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. – Colossians 1:28 (NKJV)

Perfect, fully mature, complete. This is Jesus and it is how God the Father sees us in Christ.

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. – Romans 8:29-30

When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are born-again by the Spirit and are saved from the penalty of our sin – a price paid in full by Jesus on the cross. We are also justified – it is ‘just as if I had never sinned’ in God’s eyes.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law…the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. … – Romans 3:21-25

We are saved and justified yet we remain imperfect sinners now.

So, I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. – Romans 7:21-23

The enemy uses this internal spiritual war to spread propaganda lies seeking to plant seeds of doubt about our eternal salvation. He wants to trip us up, cause us to give up and return to a life of willful sin.

O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul,“There is no salvation for him in God.” But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. – Psalm 3:1-3

Take heart my Christian brothers and sisters and in the Name of Jesus tell the lying enemy to leave because the Truth of the Living Word of God says that Jesus will not lose you.

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day. – John 6:37-39

Furthermore, our Father guarantees our inheritance of glorified eternal life with Him by giving us His Holy Spirit to guide us and sanctify us in this life on earth.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. – Ephesians 1:13-14

We may feel imperfect now, but through faith and trust in Jesus we know that we are made perfect in Him.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:12-14

God has a perfect plan for your perfection. He has provided all you need from the grace and faith to believe in Jesus for salvation and justification through the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit’s perfecting process until He calls us home to be with Him, glorified in Christ.

None of this saving and perfecting process is by our own works. It is all by the grace of God.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9

Trust in God. Trust in His plan and process. Know that you are already perfect in His eyes and do not let the enemy plant seeds of doubt. Let the Holy Spirit guide and correct your way as you walk with Jesus daily.

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. – Matthew 5:48