THE WAY OF PERFECTION. By Pastor Fernando

SCRIPTURE

"Have you lost your senses? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you trying to become perfect by your own human effort?"
Galatians 3:3

OBSERVATION
There is always a human tendency to earn love by our own effort. God created us with this tendency so we can see the contrast between our human way to love and God's divine love. For God, love is about sacrificing to give people what they don't deserve. But for us, we try to do whatever it takes to deserve such love. And even when we first get it God's way, that we please God by believing in His promise and in the sacrifice of Christ, our tendency will be to slowly return to our default nature. Sooner or later, we will try to please God by human efforts. Paul is warning us about that tendency and encourage us to remain fresh in the understanding of grace.

APPLICATION
Our perfection as Christ followers will never be attained by following the rules. It will only come from the inside out as we trust in God's grace alone and as we let Him do the work in our hearts. We need to fight our self-righteous tendencies in a regular basis. Like a weed that will grow wildly if not controlled, self-righteousness can spread quickly in our hearts and minds. We cannot become slaves of regulations that we cannot follow anyway. We need to depend in God's grace, and in that alone.

In my personal life I can see how very often I'm trying to become perfect by human efforts. In our sincere desire to honor God with our lives, we assume that holiness is sinlessness and we try to keep a life without sin. The problem with that is that we are not free from the presence of sin in our lives. In Chirst we are dead to sin, but sin is not dead to us. Sin will be around us and sometimes will touch us. When that happens, our reaction cannot be just feel bad about our failure and feel rejected by God. Our reaction should be to trust in God's grace and to love Him becasue He first loved us knowing how messed up we are.

PRAYER
Dear heavenly Father, thank you for your love that goes beyond my sin, my self-righteousness, and my inperfections. The only way to be perfect in your sight is by putiing our trust in You, in your sacrifice at the cross, and in your promise to shape Christ's image in our own character. Let my be always under the grace, not under the pressure to perform for You. Thank you for setting me free from my human tendencies and keep me humble and mindful about your grace. Amen!