"He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay."
~ Matthew 28:6
Jesus is alive! He died and rose again, conquering sin and death forever and ever! We don't have to live in sin or in fear or in bondage. We can have victory through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord! Jesus died on the cross and rose again, cleansing us from sin and clothing us with His perfect righteousness forever.
During our Good Friday service, we took communion and had a time of reflection. As I prayed, it stuck me to the heart that, "He was perfect so that I don't have to be. He was perfect because He could be and I couldn't be."
I spend so much time trying to be perfect. I want to be a perfect daughter, perfect employee, perfect friend, perfect sister, and ultimately, a perfect Christian. But that's not what God wants me to focus on. He wants me to focus more on who He is and how perfect He is than on how perfect I am trying to be. Perfection is unattainable outside of Christ.
In Christ, I am made perfect. I am crucified to myself and I live in Him: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). My identity isn't wrapped up in my efforts of striving for perfection, but in His perfectly glorious holiness.
Because of His gift of life, I am going to put on the Lord Jesus (Romans 13:14), clothing myself in His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21) instead dressing up in my dirty rags of trying to be good (Isaiah 64:6). I don't claim to know exactly what this will look like in my daily life, but I do know that turning my focus away from myself and trying to be perfect and instead fixing my eyes on Jesus and His perfection will change the way that I live. For when I am in Christ, His love controls me and I'm not living for myself, but for Him.
"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."
~ 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
Jesus is alive and Jesus is perfect! He died on the cross and rose again, conquering sin, conquering death, and giving us abundant life. His perfection is perfection. And He is alive, perfectly reigning forever and ever. Amen.
Rejoicing,
Christina
Soli Deo Gloria ~ To God Alone Be the Glory
