Perfection and Grace

Last night I prayed that God would bless my life and, as well, that He would give me a break from trials.  I felt uneasy asking this because I know that the Lord works good things in us through trials.  Also, I daily see my short-comings and sinful nature. However, I told the Lord that I often feel hopeless because there would never be a reason for Him to not give me trials . . . I’ve never been perfect.

The parable of the ten talents came to mind.  The third servant whom the Lord had entrusted talents to did not use them, but rather, he accused his master of being unfair. The servant said “I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sew.” (Lk 19:21). This servant did not trust his Lord. 

I became aware that it is hard to trust the work of the Lord in myself when I never see perfection. When we face our weaknesses, and our tendencies towards sin, chastisements seem due us.  But just as the servant did not see what God had “put in” or “sewed” into his life, we also can miss what God has put into us. He put His Holy Spirit into us, and when we bear the fruit of His nature, that is what our Master comes for.

In reading Jesus’ parables, we see the contrast between those who serve Him, and those who do not.  Some He asks to forgive, others to walk a second mile.  Some are to watch over their fellow servants, and some are to labor in a field for the Master.  But there are no parables where those who fail are upbraided for not being perfect, nor those who succeed have mastered perfection.  We cannot accomplish our own salvation, and though trials work good in us, they do not make us sinless.

In Revelation we see a multitude of people dressed in white and waving palm branches.  They came out of a great tribulation, during which they washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.  They sing “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Rev 7:10 & 14).  The purity expressed by their white robes wasn’t accomplished by the multitude; it was purchased for them by Jesus’ sacrifice.  They were not acceptable because of their own efforts, but because of His. And though all men are weak, His nature makes us strong.  If we sin, His blood covers our sin and we are acceptable to God.  This takes faith, the very thing God looks for in us during our trails.

Paul writes about finding himself to be a “wretched man” (Rom 7:24). He then shares that choosing to walk in the Holy Spirit (what God put into us) brings us into righteousness, and out from under condemnation (see Rom 8).  Self-condemnation, self-contempt, and self-denial cannot do what walking in God’s Spirit can.  Paul did not hide his talents, nor accuse God of being unjust.  In fact, Paul thought that all the things he had lost helped him to know Christ. Paul considered those things which had been valuable to him were as “rubbish” and that the loss of them helped him to “gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own . . . but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” (Phil 3:8-9).

Our theories, own wisdom and logic will not lead us into perfection, nor will they lead us to become acceptable to God. But trust in God’s ways, and faith in Jesus will accomplish in us all that God is looking for. Our trials lead us to daily accept grace from God, and to give grace daily to others. God loves to inhale the sweet aroma of Christ’s sacrifice coming from our lives.