Perfection through quitting

Today's Scripture:
Matt 5:48, James 1:4, 1 Thess. 5:23

Today's Prayer: Dear Lord, may I be steadfast in my faith that I may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. I praise You for Your faithfulness! I know You will complete the work You have started in me.

I am keenly aware of my imperfections. Oddly enough, those around me often bear the brunt of that awareness. I deeply hate my imperfections and desperately want to rid myself of them and sometimes I tend to ask others … okay ask may be to gentle of a word … to meet the same standards that I see myself missing. But as I read the New Testament, I find that is the kind of thing the Pharisees did. This fight for perfection is a personal one. Actually though, it shouldn't be a fight. It should be a release. I make it a fight by striving to do it myself. As 1 Thessalonians says, he will do it. Actually, he already did it. When Jesus died on the cross, he perfected me. He even said it. When he said "It is finished", the word finished is closely related to the word perfect. It was finished in the sense of over. It was finished in the sense of completeness or perfection. My salvation, redemption and righteousness were perfected at that moment. I need to rest in that fact, not fight for what I cannot attain. I need to see that perfection was not accomplished by fighting for oneself. Perfection was accomplished by laying down your very nature and living in God. That is what Jesus did. He laid down DIVINITY and abided fully and completely in God. We need only lay down our filthy rags and do the same. I lack perfection only because I am proud and thank God for salvation and tell him I will handle the sanctification. I quit! I don't want to do it anymore. I don't want to fail again. I want to be perfect. I want Jesus, not me. I want to die and let Jesus live. I know that he will. I know that he won't let me mess it up. He is faithful.