“Fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of faith–Jesus, who, for the joy set before him endured the , despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:2 NASB
I asked my teen daughter what she thought about Hebrews 12:2 and what she said immediately blew me away.
She said she always thought it was like Jesus is both the author and the editor, an author writes a book an editor perfects it.
I had never thought about that verse in that way before, Jesus edits us to perfection. I found this profound and amazed that this child of mine would have unique insight about this scripture.
This work of authoring and editing reminds me of a verse in Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 31:33-NASB “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days.”, declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
I started a book almost 2 years ago and I am still editing, forever striving for perfection.
Jesus is both writing and editing, he is perfecting and he is finishing our faith.
Jesus started our faith and he will see our faith to completion, to absolute perfection.
Jesus perfects us individually but could he also finish and edit and complete us corporately?
Most Christians I know are ok with God perfecting them, transforming them, maturing them in almost any way. Most sermons are about this in some way and most of us are fine with it even if it hurts a little.
But what about God perfecting us corporately, together as bodies of believers?
How we treat one another, how we gather together, what if he wants to revise us in that way like he has in the past.
What if he is crossing out a line of text here and wanting to add and revise our understanding there? Is that ok with you? will you tolerate it?
He cares how we behave in private but also in public, how we treat one another. He is perfecting us because he loves us, it may hurt but is it not wonderful that he is transforming us into something beautiful? He, Jesus, the perfecter, the editor of faith, is personally and actively doing this even today. This is abundantly clear to me.
He can use whom ever he likes to do this and to draw our attention to this, even children.
