Not so much hovering over a phrase this morning as I am soaking in it. A reminder that re-centers reality. A truth I can take through the day. A word (actually, four words) that can’t help but evoke a bit of wonder.

For by a single offering [Christ] has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

(Hebrews 10:14 ESV)

Perfected for all time . . . Marinate in that, child of God! Your salvation isn’t about being “new and improved”, it’s about being perfected for all time.

It’s not our state yet. But it is our standing at this very moment.

While we are being sanctified . . . or, as the NIV puts it, being made holy . . . or, as Peterson renders it, taking part in the purifying process . . . for us works-in-progress, our perfection isn’t measured by how far we’ve progressed. Instead, it depends wholly and solely on a single offering. Our justification isn’t a matter of just eventually doing enough to warrant the “perfected” designation, but our completeness, our wholeness, is realized only because we are in Christ. Because He is perfect, so too are we in Him.

Not that I don’t want to cooperate with the Spirit’s transforming and conforming work in me, not that I don’t want to reflect Jesus more, but it’s also not that my perfection is somehow dependent upon my performance. I enter this day, fully accepted in Beloved. Nothing I do today can make me more acceptable to God, nothing I do today can make me less acceptable to God. My perfection is not rated on a sliding scale but is realized only because of a finished work — the work of a single offering on the cross of Calvary.

Perfected for all time . . . Let it sink in afresh. Let it wash over you anew. Let it bring the rest of the redeemed. And then let that once forever finished work spur us on to the daily work of taking part in the purifying process.

All by God’s grace. All for God’s glory.