It is a trap to presume that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do— God’s purpose is to make us one with Himself. The emphasis of holiness movements tends to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum. If you accept this concept of personal holiness, your life’s determined purpose will not be for God, but for what you call the evidence of God in your life. How can we say, “It could never be God’s will for me to be sick”? If it was God’s will to bruise His own Son ( Isaiah 53:10 ), why shouldn’t He bruise you? What shines forth and reveals God in your life is not your relative consistency to an idea of what a saint should be, but your genuine, living relationship with Jesus Christ, and your unrestrained devotion to Him whether you are well or sick.

Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship with God that shows itself to be true even amid the seemingly unimportant aspects of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that hits you is the pointlessness of the things you have to do. The next thought that strikes you is that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives. Such lives may leave you with the idea that God is unnecessary— that through your own human effort and devotion you can attain God’s standard for your life. In a fallen world this can never be done. I am called to live in such a perfect relationship with God that my life produces a yearning for God in the lives of others, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God’s purpose is not to perfect me to make me a trophy in His showcase; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He wants.

The issue is to stay connected and available through our relationship with Jesus Christ. JDV

The issue is not to conform or “be a good Christian” it is to stay connected and let God use us whenever and however He chooses. Our step by step spiritual growth plan does not seem to work out in real life. We cannot hope to “become a better person” then be used by God. We simply stay open to be used how and when God chooses.

We do not have to be conformed before we are confirmed by God as He uses us. We are confirmed simply accepting the gift of Jesus on the cross. This gift prooduces all we ever need as we stay connnected.

It seems that adding any “metric” to our spiritual quest will actually become deterrant to our true spiritual objective which is connectedness to him.