FOLLOW THE LEADERin this life. I believe that is an erroneous doctrine that is not based on
sound Biblical exegesis. Personal experience proves to any honest person
that none of us can perfectly achieve perfection in this life. Only Christ
did that. While we can will it, we cannot achieve it. We can desire it,
but not attain it. However, we should still desire it...aim at it...focus our
hearts on it...strive for it...push ourselves toward it – all the while resting in
the knowledge that every Christian has the imputed perfection of the Lord
Jesus. Because of grace we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
As a result, we stand before God as perfect in Christ. That’s known as
positional perfection – or spiritual perfection that is based upon our spiritual
position “...in Christ Jesus” (I Cor. 1:30). We are positionally perfect, but
practically imperfect! While God sees us as perfect in Christ, others see us
as imperfect. If you have any doubts about your imperfection, ask your
spouse or children about it. They will quickly dispel any delusions of
perfection in your life! It is the “performance gap” between our positional
perfection in Christ, and our practical imperfection in life, that every serious
Christian is always trying to narrow. As long as we are in this body of
clay, we will live with the tension between what now is and what is yet to
come...between Christ’s perfect work and our imperfect work...between His
perfection and our imperfection...between His performance for us and our
performance for Him.
As we have already seen, this spiritual tension between positional perfection
and practical perfection was a tension that Paul lived with all of his life. He
honestly confessed that he had not yet “...been made perfect.” Yet it was
clearly a spiritual goal that he was aiming at...pressing on for...straining
toward... suffering for. As he said: “All of us who are mature should take
such a view of things...Only let us live up to what we have already
attained” (Phil. 3:15-16). This is what Paul called “walking worthy of
our calling” (Phil. 1:27; Eph. 4:1; Col. 1:10; I Thess. 2:12).
There is a pithy old proverb that says: “If you aim at nothing, you will
hit it every time!” It is far better to aim at perfection and fall short of the
mark, than aim at nothing and hit the bull’s eye! When we do not aim
at perfection, we tend to settle down into bland mediocrity. We become
stunted in spiritual immaturity. Like the children of Israel, we live out our
lives in the wilderness of carnality – rather than in God’s Promised Land,
which is “...flowing with milk and honey” (Ex. 3:8).