Perfect (Abide Devotion for September 30, 2015)

Hebrews 10:5-18

⁵ Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,

but a body you prepared for me;

⁶ with burnt offerings and sin offerings

you were not pleased.

⁷ Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—

I have come to do your will, my God.’ ”

⁸ First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. ⁹ Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. ¹⁰ And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

¹¹ Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. ¹⁴ For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

¹⁵ The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

¹⁶ “This is the covenant I will make with them

after that time, says the Lord.

I will put my laws in their hearts,

and I will write them on their minds.”

¹⁷ Then he adds:

“Their sins and lawless acts

I will remember no more.”

¹⁸ And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. ^[1]

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What jumped out at me in today’s passage is verse 14, where the writer points out that by the sacrifice of Christ, He has made us “perfect forever.”

Do you feel perfect? In this life we never will, unless we’re delusional. We usually have no problem coming up with a list of things that are wrong in our lives, and, if we’re honest, about ourselves. What would your life be like if you were truly made perfect?

This is what Christ has won for us. We have this perfection as a promise now. We have it as a gift which we possess but that is not fully realized. One of the blessings of eternity is a forever existence in perfection. I don’t know what that all means, but I do know that the brokenness of the present creation, the brokenness that clings to us throughout our lives, will be gone.

So my prayer today is simply one of thanksgiving. As one who at times struggles with perfectionism, this passage is freeing and peace-giving. I thank my God who by His sacrifice has achieved for me as a gift eternal perfection.

What is the Word leading you to pray about today?

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^[1] The New International Version. (2011). (Heb 10:5–18). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.