Awaiting Perfection - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 1 Chronicles 22:8,

"You [David] have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight."

David had a tremendous heart for the Lord. In naming David to replace Saul as king over Israel, the Lord acknowledged his heart. Paul quotes the Lord as saying, "I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do." Acts 13:22. We read in 1 Samuel 13:14, "... the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people..." referring to David when Samuel informed Saul the Lord was going to replace him as king.

The faith of David is clearly portrayed in the accounts we read of in Israel's history. His reliance upon and confidence in the Lord in his many exploits is documented in the pages of Scripture.  And, who has not seen it on display in the many psalms he penned?

However, as we see in our above verse, David was not a perfect man. He was truly a man of faith, but faith does not make us perfect. Most all the heroes of faith we read of in Scripture have accounts of their shortcomings.

David had a great desire to build a temple for the Lord and we can be certain of his disappointment when the Lord told him he was not the one to do it. The Lord pointed to David's bloodshed as what disqualified him from the honor of building a temple for his presence.

David was a great man of faith... yet not a perfect man. Faith does not make us perfect, but it does bring us acceptance with God. Believers are really not "better" than anyone else. In fact they are all "anyone else" - yet for the distinction that they have responded to the gospel in faith, they are redeemed and have become co-heirs with Jesus Christ for the wonderful and amazing inheritance that awaits all the saints.

Perfection awaits us in the resurrection when we are finally and fully relieved of our inward sinful nature. Holiness and sainthood refer to our redemption and the position believers hold with the Lord, not to a sinless and perfect life. This is a huge misunderstanding of the church today.

Yes, as redeemed people we are no longer slaves to sin as we read in Romans 6, and we no longer live a sinful lifestyle as John points out in 1 John 3:5-10. However, each of us must await the resurrection to find that state of perfection our redemption provides for.

In the meantime, we need to be encouraged to life our lives for the Lord, seeking to please him in a manner that is worthy of him. However, when we fail the Lord, when we fail ourselves, when we fail others, we need to be reminded in humility that we are not perfect in this life, and that we need to get ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and get back into the saddle, living that life that pleases the Lord.

After all, that is what David did.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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