Daily Devotional
Word of the Day
The Standard of Perfection
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Listen to this teaching | Related Teaching | Bible Teaching | 
Print
"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
(Philippians 3:14)
Anything you focus on that encumbers you, chokes out your time and energy from the great treasures, or keeps you from fulfilling the working of the Holy Spirit in your life is the enemy of your soul. I'm not talking about the necessary things of life but the things that are robbing you of what the Holy Spirit wants to do in your life. You're not ignorant of any of the things that hinder you; you just haven't made the quality decision to die to them yet. You have to truthfully face the ugliness of the love of self, the love of pleasure, and the love of things in light of the Spirit of truth who has come to lead you into all truth. Prepare yourself by being able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in the midst of all of the secular noise around us. Are you and your children ready for this inundation that is coming from the secret power of lawlessness? This lawlessness is the manifestation of the original sin--self-reliance, man becoming a god unto himself and trusting in his own abilities.
Perfection is the standard--in everything. Anything we do for the kingdom, we do one way, and that is with perfection as our standard. Are we absolutely extending ourselves to press toward the mark, the prize, the high calling of God, to accomplish the task that we're doing for the Lord?
We live in a society of mediocrity, in which people want to feel good about themselves. If we're going to be champions for the kingdom of God, we have to come to grips with the truth about ourselves and what we need to change in order to achieve the goal that's at hand. The effort we put forth demands a standard of perfection, a total offering up of ourselves for reaching the goal, which is us being made into the image of Jesus Christ, the likeness of our heavenly Father. In our society, when we think that "It is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom," means the same thing as welfare, a free ride, easy street. This kingdom is about death. This daily cross we've been called to take up is no more pleasant than going through basic training in the military. The goal is perfection; the standard is the image of Jesus Christ.
The environment is hostile, iniquity abounds, and those around us are growing cold and defecting. Today, the standard is constantly being compromised. Christendom is being amalgamated into society. We must ask ourselves what is accepted Christianity and what is biblical Christianity. We're constantly vexed by being told that what we're asked to do is too much, extreme, and difficult. We either run to be accepted by men, judging ourselves by ourselves, or we fall into the trap of self-righteousness: "Look how good we're doing. We're better than other Christians." The best we will ever become, should Jesus tarry, are unprofitable servants. We're never heroes or "great" Christians.
There's only one kind of Christian. There's no greater spiritual standard for missionaries or pastors. Nothing greater is expected of those living in adverse circumstances or in third-world countries. God has not lowered the standard because we live in prosperity. God does not understand that we're too busy or too important for the eternal. We need to look at these pitfalls as we're hearing the Spirit of truth about functioning as a member of this spiritual body and relating to the King of our kingdom.