"Perfection"

"I have never called you to be perfect enough for Me to fill you. I have not promised to give you My Spirit (or 'the latter rain') once you keep the Ten Commandments well enough. I am not holding back doing great things through you and your church because you have been too sinful.

"Instead I have given you My grace. I have promised to fill you with My Spirit when you simply rest in My grace, when you believe that I have loved you and given you My all not because of the righteous things you have done. When you rest in Me alone, when you accept My righteousness instead of trying to earn it, then you will begin to understand that the perfection I call you to is not the perfection of the commandments of the old covenant.

"I have called you to recognize your brokenness and accept My perfection on your behalf. I have called you to accept My grace, and be filled with My Spirit even in the midst of your brokenness. My Spirit is not a means toward the perfection of the old covenant commandments, but My Spirit is poured out to bring dead things to life, to restore places that were once dry and deserted in you and in others.

"Be perfect as I am perfect is not a command to match My righteousness, for that was beyond you and I have never called you to the ministry of the old covenant. Rather I have called you to love others with My love, to share My perfect love, not yours. I have chosen you as a vessel to pour out healing through. I have chosen you as a broken vessel, not as a 'perfect' vessel; I have called you in your brokenness, not in your wholeness.

"Come, accept your brokenness and imperfection, and you will see rivers gush forth in your wilderness."

*****

See also:
• "Perfection" (art link)
• "Admitting Weakness" (at Weeping Jeremiahs)