Rather than taking responsibility for our sin and lack of God’s power, we settle for a carnal philosophy that denies the transforming power of Christ. Many will argue, “What about all the IMPERFECT men in the Bible, that the Lord still used powerfully?” Surely, we can look at a man like David, who stole a man’s wife and then had him killed to hide his sin of getting her pregnant.  We see Moses who killed an Egyptian and then fled to escape justice for murder! And still God used them!

All this is true, but it’s not the whole picture, and is far from what the true power of the Gospel can produce in a person’s life.

“Have we turned away from the roots of our fathers?”

Many of these men, if we truly examined their lives, also faced great consequences for their decisions and sins, what we can consider imperfections. As the Lord began to mold them, a process happened in which you start to see someone different. As David, Moses, and many others continued in their walk, God molded, shaped, and transformed them. Could it be that God was slowly, but surely imparting His own perfection into their lives? Absolutely!

Those who trust in the Lord Jesus have such a hope that we can be rooted in. Yet, it seems as though the majority of modern Christianity has turned away from our roots! The roots of men like A.B. Simpson, Charles Finney, and Charles Spurgeon, men who knew that although they weren’t perfect, there was a perfect Christ who could enter, transform, and cause HIS perfection to be birthed within. The result was revivals, healings, signs, wonders, and an impact of the Gospel to the world.  Their hope was also that this great work would continue. Have we turned away from the roots of our fathers? Instead of living in power, are we settling for a worldly philosophy, a doctrine of demons that Paul warned about (1 Tim. 4:1)?

“He regenerates and transforms us as He renews our minds...”

Just to be clear, are we perfect? No. But this is where true faith steps in. What is the faith of a Christian? It is acknowledging that by nature, man is sinful and completely incapable of ever pleasing God, defiled and darkened by our sin, rebellion and disobedience (Rom. 3:23). This is true, but there’s hope in Christ!

For those who are “born again” through faith in the Lord Jesus, there is a powerful process that begins. A sort of “eviction notice” is given. 2 Peter 2:19 says, “...for people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” No longer is that old sinful, imperfect nature going to rule, a new master, Jesus, enters and now leads those who submit to His Lordship into righteousness. For those who believe, Christ begins the work of regeneration (Titus 3:5). He regenerates and transforms us as he renews our minds through the conviction of sin, repentance, prayer, and discipleship. But it does not end there!

“This is why Christ IS the hope of glory. He is the hope of becoming a dwelling place...”

There is a purpose, it’s that we become a perfect dwelling place for the presence of God. There is a first phase of receiving Christ that begins as we trust Him to save us. This salvation is for more than heaven, it’s the beginning of his preparing us for still something greater here on earth.  It is a full impartation of the very nature of God within us where our imperfections no longer limit us, because the fullness of God’s presence has entered. We truly begin to live the abundant life, filled with the Spirit of God that Jesus had promised (John 10:10).

God is PERFECT. And when He fully enters into the submitted heart, perfection enters into imperfect man. 2 Corinthians 3:18 states that we go from “glory to glory.” In other words, day by day, the perfect Son of God is manifesting His glorious perfection in us, causing us to grow in freedom from sin and bondage in consistent obedience to the will of God. This continues to a point of sanctification, in which the very nature of God overtakes us. This is why Christ IS the hope of glory. He is the hope of becoming a dwelling place for the fullness of the Father’s glorious presence! 

Now, do we fail? Yes. However, our failures only serve one purpose - to reveal whatever places in our hearts have yet to be conquered by the Lord in order to prepare a place for the Father, who without holiness, no one will see (Heb. 12:14). Considering this truth, we don’t settle to just say, “we’re all just imperfect sinners,” as a passive acceptance that things are just the way they are in our lives.

If we come to the true Word of God and under the full counsel of the Scriptures, we will understand 1 Peter 1:16, “Be holy as I am holy.” We cannot only consider the grace, mercy, and forgiveness that God pours out, and ignore His requirement, His command to BE HOLY. In other words, to never again use the excuse, “Nobody’s perfect,” which, in truth, is an offense to the very work of the cross of Christ. 

At the cross, the Lord died for us to no longer live according to the old sinful nature, but to be transformed by His power. He lived a sinless, pure, perfect life so that those who follow Him, despite all of our sins, shortcomings, deficiencies, and even our weaknesses, be overshadowed by the glory and presence of God Almighty. In this we can truly rejoice in “Christ in me, the hope of glory.”

This is the hope, to be like the first Church, full of men and women who lived in holiness where God demonstrated His power through signs, wonders, miracles, and lives transformed by the Gospel.

“Will you challenge yourself?”

It is the hope of becoming like a 21st century Charles Finney, A.B. Simpson, or AW Tozer, just to name a few, who believed in something more for their lives in Christ. Something more than settling that, “We’re not perfect.” But believing the very perfection of Christ could enter and demonstrate His power.

In light of these lives that have modeled the true power of Christ, let's not settle for anything less in our lives. Instead, let God transform our mindsets and raise a faith that believes that the very perfection of Christ can enter into us and demonstrate His power. Let us break away from every excuse or reasoning that would deny the true power of God’s presence entering in. 

Will you challenge yourself? Will you challenge those close to you? To come back to the roots of the Church of the Lord Jesus. These are roots of life that have the transforming power of the Lord Jesus to truly empower us for holiness!