Maturity and Perfection

UV 2750/10000 Maturity and Perfection
Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
Colossians 1 v 28
The role of the believer or follower of Jesus is like that of a spiritual watchman to warn the contemporary generation of the consequences of sin or being unable to connect with the Creator-Redeemer. It is also to teach and build the faith and knowledge of fellow believers so that they will be established and rooted in Christ in order to bear fruit for Him. We are to teach with all wisdom and gentleness of spirit, not lording it over others but having the attitude of a servant that Christ manifested in all His dealings with people. The ultimate goal is to present every person perfect or mature in Christ.
As spiritual watchmen or teachers, we are judged by even more stricter standards than others. Hence, we should constantly check ourselves against the mirror and the plumb line of His word. If there are any attitudes that need correction, we should do so as soon as we are made aware of it by the Holy Spirit. We are to allow the Holy Spirit to examine our spiritual health every single day like a physician who checks all the parameters of our physical health. We also need to accept His diagnosis and follow diligently whatever He prescribes even as a patient is careful to do precisely what his doctor had advised him to do.
Jesus said,”Be perfect as my Father in Heaven is perfect. “ He did not say, “Pursue perfection” as if it is a distant unattainable goal. He did not say, “ Become perfect” or “Try to be perfect”. He said, “Be perfect..” In other words, by being grafted with Jesus, we are already perfect. WE are to now maintain our being in perfection and grow in perfection and maturity to the very stature of Christ. Maturity implies that we gain enough knowledge and strength in Christ that we do not allow anything to disturb this perfection in Christ that we are anointed with by faith. There are three aspects to this teaching of Jesus that encompasses the purpose of perfection, the means of perfection and the power or the grace to be perfect in Christ: one, that we need to be perfect to reflect the character of the Father in us since we are His children. Second, that we need to model our homes, our relationships, our communication, our lifestyle and our work style on what we have seen and heard of the Father, the Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Third, we cannot strive to be perfect on our own. We need to constantly seek the help of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit to be perfect and mature in Christ. The Father encourages us with His word, the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of godly character of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and humility in us, Jesus teaches us with His parables, His teachings, His commands, His miracles, His touch, His presence, His example and the institution of the communion where we partake of the manna and wine of heaven. Having learnt from Jesus and learnt of Him, we then have a duty to pass on the teachings faithfully like a runner passes on the baton to the next runner. There are a host of challenges or threats to perfection in Christ: the world and its pressures as well as pleasures, circumstances, false teachings, our own unstable emotions, a wrong order of priorities.

Prateep V Philip