GOD SEES THE END PRODUCT

"Despite my sins, God is able to deal with me because He sees me complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10). That is not only a theological position, but also a means of my relating to all my brothers and sisters in Christ. I often fail in my interpersonal relationships because I see people as they are, not as they are in Christ. Paul's ambition for everyone was to 'present every man perfect [mature, full grown] in Christ' (Colossians 1:28). In preaching the gospel, Paul had to see his
hearers as already completed in Christ.

I have had Christians say, 'I don't know why God puts up with me, I'm so weak and erring.' Indeed we are! But God puts up with us because He sees the end product as actually realized. The difference between WHAT WE ARE and WHAT WE SHALL BE is the process of working out the ideal, which, in God's eyes, has already been achieved. God is patient with us because He sees us PERFECTED, and you cannot become impatient with perfection.

So it is with my brother and me. The reason I am impatient with him is because I see his raw, ragged faults, not the 'measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ' in him (Ephesians 4:13). The moment I see him 'perfect in Christ,' the moment I will lose my irritation, discouragement, and exasperation with him. To be troubled by my fellow Christian is really not HIS fault, it is mine, because of a short-sightedness concerning Christ's finished redemption. I deny, for
my brother, the Calvary work of Jesus Christ. I must keep in mind that heartwarming word of John, 'It has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when HE appears we shall see HIM as HE IS!' (1 John 3:2)

Thank God for foreseen perfection -- for my brother and for me!" from DAILY WITH THE KING by W. Glyn Evans published by Mood Press