THE FULL EXTENT OF OUR LORD'S VICTORY ON THE CROSS DOES NOT YET APPEAR. While we have been delivered from sin, nevertheless the believer painfully proves that he is still far from perfect. Imperfection is stamped upon all he feels: his desires, his joys and sorrows; upon all his doings, on his prayers, his praises, his performances. What says the sigh which flies from his heart? Imperfect! What says the groan which ascends from his troubled breast? Imperfect! What says the tears which gather in his eye and roll down from his cheek? Imperfect! There is perfection in Christ alone. In Him there is perfect atonement to reconcile us; perfect righteousness to justify us; perfect holiness to sanctify us; perfect wisdom to instruct us. We become perfect by union to Him, for as His bride we have a part with Him in all that He has, by receiving from Him, for of His fulness we receive and grace for grace. We become perfect by being united to Him, for we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Our full perfection is decreed, promised, provided for, and will be realized. Christ now represents us as perfect. One day He will transform us, and then present us to the Father in full perfection.

For Meditation:
With Him His members on the tree,
Fulfilled the law's demands;
'Tis "I in them, and they in me",
For thus the union stands.