Our Daily Bread -- How to Be Perfect
Our Daily Bread -- How to Be PerfectDecember 13, 2015 |
Read: Romans 3:20-26 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. —Hebrews 10:14 Christmas is the time of year when the pressure to be perfect intensifies. We imagine the perfect celebration and then put forth our best effort to make it happen. We shop for the perfect gifts. We plan the perfect Christmas Day meal. We choose the perfect greeting cards or write the perfect family letter. But our striving leads to discouragement and disappointment when our ability to imagine perfection exceeds our ability to implement it. The carefully chosen gift receives only a halfhearted thank you. Part of the meal is overcooked. We find a typo in our Christmas greeting after we’ve mailed the cards. Children fight over toys. Adults resurrect old arguments. Instead of being discouraged, however, we can use our disappointment to remind ourselves of the reason Christmas is so important. We need Christmas because none of us is or can be all that we want to be—not for a month, a week, or even a day. How much more meaningful our celebrations of Christ’s birth would be if we would give up our faulty concept of perfection, then focus instead on the perfection of our Savior, in whom we are made righteous (Rom. 3:22). If your Christmas celebration this year is less than ideal, relax and let it be a reminder that the only way to be “made perfect forever” (Heb. 10:14) is to live by faith in the righteousness of Christ. —Julie Ackerman Link What expectations do you have for the Christmas season? Are they idealistic or realistic? Think about what you can do to focus more on Christ and the meaning of His birth. Dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before His throne. Edward Mote INSIGHT: In today’s passage the word righteousness stands out. It is important to see how Paul describes it. Righteousness is not achieved by works (v. 20); it is given freely to all who believe by faith (v. 22) and is demonstrated in the sacrifice of Christ (vv. 25-26). As verse 23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But God makes sinners righteous through the sacrifice of Christ. |
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Our mission is to make the life-changing wisdom of the Bible understandable and accessible to all. Our vision is to see people of all nations experiencing a personal relationship with Christ, growing to be more like Him, and serving in a local body of His family. To read today's Our Daily Bread online visit www.odb.org. Scriptures taken from Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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