"Now if perfection...had been attainable by the Levitical priesthood..,why was it further necessary that there should arise another...kind of Priest....For the Law never made anything perfect-- but instead a better hope is introduced through which we [now] come close to God." (From Hebrews 7, Amplified Bible)
This is the objective of Biblical, "perfection------- come close to God." It is not what some call, "great worship," or meeting hype which does this; it is, "perfection."
The old 1950s song is what most people desire of religion: "Though it makes Him sad to see the way we live, He'll always say, 'I forgive.'" Is that what we really want, sinning, forgiveness, sinning, forgiveness, personality and character flaws going unchallenged, unchanged the rest of our sojourn here?!? I so often have heard people say, "I really like that church. Nobody judges you; they just love on you and accept you no matter what." So is that it? Get saved, but never changed, never converted, viz., "to turn one's self from one's course of conduct"?
Our text declares it is, "perfection," which, "brings us close to God." One may go to every bookstore, shop online, go to every convention on the planet, searching, longing for some message, some book which opens the secret to, "come close to God. " Yet for over 2000 years, "The Word of God," Jesus Christ, has been telling the world, "His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints.., that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him" (From Eph. 4, Amp). It is not to the "the stature of the fullness of" me or someone one may admire; it is to, "the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him"------------------- nothing less.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray for more "pressing on" in my life. Amen.
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When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
