God is perfect. But what does that really mean? This daily devotional looks how God is perfect in His works, way, and attributes.
Nuggets
- God’s work is the actions He takes through us to accomplish His plans, which are accomplished perfectly.
- God’s way is perfect because of His purity, an aspect of His holiness.
- Being perfect tells us the status of the other attributes are spiritually whole and complete.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Finding Our Center series
The next four devotions (maybe five or six if I have to divide) are interconnected. When I was doing my research and it would talk about two attributes, perfection, just, righteous, faithful, and true could appear in different combinations.
Binning said that it pleases God to have so many titles. I can see that. Being everything to every complex person means God has to be complex. Besides, we need different aspects of Him at different times.
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So, we are going to look at these back to back and see what we are going to see.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Let's Put It into Context #2
The perfected state indicates the combination of the spiritual graces which, when all are present, form spiritual wholeness or completeness. Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
God’s Work Is Perfect
“The Rock — his work is perfect; all his ways are just. A faithful God, without bias, he is righteous and true.” (Deut. 32: 4 CSB)
God’s work is the actions He takes through us to accomplish His plans, which are accomplished perfectly.
We had a devotion not long ago (and of course, I can’t find which one) where we said God only works from a plan. He has an eternal purpose that He has mapped out. All of the work we do happens according to that plan.
Binning pointed out that, even though things happen perfectly according to God’s plan, that does not mean we think they are perfect. We think it would be perfect when there is smooth sailing.
God is going to use the consequences of sin — poverty, disease, death — to work out His perfect plan. He isn’t necessarily going to make us ill. He will use that illness to grow us.
We have to realize that the designation of perfect will be deferred to the end. When measured against the glory it brings Him and the eternal purpose it fulfills, it is perfect.
Also, we tend to look at the chapter or maybe even the paragraph or word. We don’t look at the whole book, like God does.
I remember when Mom died, I got a card that had a beautiful saying on it. Right now, we are looking at the underside of the tapestry. We just see the knots and dull outline. When we get to Heaven — and are able to see the top side — we will see the beautiful masterpiece that God has created.
That can be applied to more than just grief. Once life is over and we see the completed us, we will see the beauty of God’s perfect work in us.
Binning knew what he was trying to say. I think he meant that, when we focus on God, He will give us His peace — that is part of His work. In that way, we can be peaceful like Him — making the work perfect and complete. Complete equals perfect.
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Tillotson instructed us that “… truth and faithfulness are perfections, and consequently belong to the Divine nature …” (See, I said they were interconnected.)
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Tillotson felt it was understandable to want to be perfect like God. We don’t have His power or wisdom. We don’t have His stability. We think if we did have His attributes, we would be happy.
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Mankind is far from perfect. We break God’s laws and commandments almost daily.
That is called sin. Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings. These laws and commandments not only show us what we have done wrong, but they also show us the character of God. It is an attitude that encourages us to exercise our free will and not follow God.
God doesn’t sin. In fact, His purity is part of His perfection.
God’s Way Is Perfect
“God — his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is pure. He is a shield to all who take refuge in him.” (II Sam. 22: 31 CSB)
God’s way is perfect because of His purity, an aspect of His holiness.
Because God is pure — free from sin, He is holy. Binning equated God’s perfection with His holiness. Holy means to be set apart, perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
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Selby thought some may question why we say God is separated. He wrote, “He is eternally pure and perfect and separate from sinners, and does not need to draw a line between Himself and the world by a special consecration act.”
I don’t know when Selby wrote his sermon, but he nailed one thing. When talking about how Jews immediately submitted to God, he provided a contrast by writing, “We, however, are disposed to go a little further into the subject than that, and ask, ‘Does mere power, however gigantic its scale, create obligation’?”
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Ooo, baby. He knows us well!
Worldview people don’t think God’s power should elicit our submission. That He is our Creator means little to them.
But you know, God doesn’t want us to submit to him because of His power or what He has done for us.
God wants us to submit to Him because He loves us and we love Him. He wants us to want to have the relationship with Him.
We worship God by imitating Him. That means we try to be perfect.
We are made in God’s image. That means, even though we may not currently be like Him, we can grow to have His character. We grow by the grace of God.
We look at ourselves and think there is no way we can be perfect. Selby begged to differ. He wrote, “The very motive which determines God’s eternal and unspotted life of blessedness comes to infix itself in us. The power of God’s personal holiness, with all its magnificent achievements, lends itself to us for our perfecting.”
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Wood assured us “that God’s way is perfectly wise and good and holy, perfectly adapted to fulfil (sic) the purposes of his love towards his children, and leads to an end that is perfectly good. That, in comparison with the way we might have preferred, it is infinitely superior.
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God’s ways are perfect because they provide the outcome He has decreed. That doesn’t mean we are going to necessarily think they are perfect when we are going through them. We don’t see illness and death as perfect, but they grow us to be more like Him.
God is omniscient — all-knowing. In knowing everything, He is perfect. He will use all of our circumstances, as Wood said, that “… leads to an end that is perfectly good.” He does this through His perfect goodness.
As Wood said, Dale reminded us that the perfection comes at the end. We won’t be perfect here in this life. Perfection is being saved for Heaven.
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We have to remember that God has plans for us (Jer. 29: 11). These plans are perfect. Scriptures call this His way. From beginning to end, His way is perfect.
The Homilist applied this to our moral conduct. It was written, “The way which is prescribed for our moral conduct is ‘perfect.’”
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God’s way of reconciliation is perfect. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 ESV).
Miller reminded us that, because God’s ways are perfect, we will not figure them out. We are not going to totally understand how God created this universe.
God Is Perfect
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt. 5: 48 CSB)
Being perfect tells us the status of the other attributes are spiritually whole and complete.
I was surprised that there were only a few sermons on Matthew 5: 48. I figured there would be bunches.
Tuck reminded us that Christ showed us perfection. He showed us His Father.
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Price’s sermon took a similar tract as the ones in the last section. He had a really good definition of holy. He wrote that perfectly holy “… denotes the transcendent excellence of His nature, while He is infinitely distinguished from all other beings.”
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Hmmm. I think that applies more to holiness than it does to holy.
We say holiness is more than a character trait; it is purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart. Let’s see if we can combine.
Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
Well, it is still a work in progress.
Price did add another aspect of God’s perfection — His wisdom. He wrote, “Wisdom implies right use of knowledge, and lies in the will as well as in the understanding He acts wisely whose will is directed by right reason.”
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That is close to our definition of wisdom. It is an enlightened acceptance of God’s principles that leads to knowledge, discernment, and good sense that is put into practice through salvation, increasing our goodness and virtue.
What if we are perfect when we accept His principles? Hmmm. I am going to have to think on that.
Making the Connections
I think perfection is a status of several elements. For example, I am a good singer. I am okay on the flute. The only time I am presentable on the piano is if I am playing just for me.
Add those all together, I am not totally perfect.
God is totally perfect. All of His attributes do link together. He is perfect in them all.
Doesn’t that make it easier to submit to Him?
How Do We Apply This?
Fletcher gave us a good list of what being perfect in God meant. He wrote, “Christian perfection is a spiritual constellation, made up of these gracious stars — perfect repentance, perfect faith, perfect humility, perfect meekness, perfect self-denial, perfect resignation, perfect hope, perfect charity for our visible enemies as well as for our earthly relations, and, above all, perfect love for our invisible God through the explicit knowledge of our Mediator Jesus Christ. And as this last star is always accompanied by all the others, as Jupiter is by his satellites, we frequently use, as St. John, the phrase, ‘perfect love,’ instead of the word ‘perfection’; understanding by it the pure love of God shed abroad in the hearts of established believers by the Holy Ghost, which is abundantly given them under the fulness of the Christian dispensation.
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We can strive toward that.
- Because God is perfect, we should be thankful, submissive, and confident.
- We should seek His wisdom.
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We can put our faith in God because He is perfect — all the way around.
Father God. You are perfect in all ways. We want to become more perfect in all of the ways Fletcher listed. By doing so, we become more like You. Amen.
What do you think?
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