Oswald Chambers on Christian perfection

If you've been reading Oswald Chambers this month, then you may be familiar with the Dec. 2rd devotional from My Utmost for His Highest. He titles the devotional "Christian Pefection", and expands on Phil 3:12 "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfect ..."

The thoughts he goes onto share on perfection have been bouncing around in my head for the last few days and I hope you won't mind if I share them with you for your consideration. It is lengthy enough that I will probably break this into two parts.

"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 into 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 (Is. 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."