Bible Verse: Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Hebrews 10:11-14 NIV
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 9-10
You’re perfect.
Now, if you’re like me, your mind instantly goes to your many imperfections.
But in today’s passage, God’s Word calls you a perfect man, and He must know what He is talking about.
Yesterday, we talked about the Old Testament sacrificial system. Since sin causes death, God set up a temporary system where animals would die in humanity’s place. Through their death, the effects of sin would be neutralized, and people would be made right with God.
(We call this “atonement.”)
And yet, it wasn’t the ultimate solution. Animals are lower creatures than humans, so they can’t truly pay the price of a human’s sin (Hebrews 10:4).
No, to truly solve the problem of sin, either we needed to die, or someone greater than us needed to die.
Enter Jesus Christ.
Scripture says that God loved us too much to leave us to sin and death, so He sent His Son to die in our place (John 3:16; Romans 5:6-8).
Jesus sacrificed His life for us, and in His sacrifice, we are made perfect forever.
The Old Testament priests performed sacrifices repeatedly, never able to fully atone for humanity’s sins.
But when Jesus sacrificed His life, one time, His sacrifice was so perfect that He got to sit down, permanently, because there was no more sacrificing that ever needed to happen.
By His self-sacrificial death, Jesus removed every trace of sin from us. We are perfect forever because of what He did.
Now, the last verse says a little more:
For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. (Hebrews 10:14 NIV)
The whole verse helps explain our present imperfections.
You are both “perfect forever,” and in the process of “being made holy” simultaneously.
You are both a flawless man and a work-in-progress.
In God’s eyes, you are perfected. Jesus’ perfection has been placed on you. When He looks at you, He sees the perfection of His Son.
In Heaven’s view, you are as clean as Christ.
Here on earth, in your body, there’s still holiness to pursue. We are “being made holy,” becoming more and more the perfected new creation that we are in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Our job as men is to lean into the perfection Christ gave us through His death, dying to self so that we can live as the men He has created us to be.
Prayer: Lord, thank You for Your perfect sacrifice and the perfection that You give me. Help me to live into Your perfection by Your grace. Amen.
Reflection: How do you hold your “perfection” and “imperfections” in tension together? What would it look like to embrace your perfection in Christ?
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