Philippians 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

Are you perfect? I am not, at least according to the standards I have set for myself. I know I can do better. I have in the past made jokes about perfection. Example; a rotten apple can be perfectly rotten. The standard of perfection has to have an example.

Paul’s example here in Philippians isn’t comparing Christians to Christ but rather Christians to fellow Christians. He is comparing apples to apples. He is not comparing apples to heavenly fruit. So why use the term perfect, as if in this life there is perfection? Look to the preceding scriptures to find clues as to the standard of perfection being referenced.

Verse 7, putting everything that I have achieved aside to know Christ.

Verse 9, to lose myself in Christ, to be found in Him.

Verse 10, His death, His resurrection, His suffering, His power, nothing in me but knowing Him.

Verse 12, He has a hold on me, not me on Him.

Verse 13, I am not there yet and 14, I keep moving in the right direction.

So what is perfection? From these leading verses I might say perfection might be in having the right attitude, mind-set, or belief system. If that is true, then how can I reflect on what I am in Christ?

Philippians 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

How can I know that He has achieved this and not me, myself?

Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

When your world is falling apart, you won’t.

Exodus 20:18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

Here is a people that had been in bondage for four hundred years. God revealed Himself to them, so that they might come to know who had set them free. Did they embrace their Savior? No. Did they respect their salvation? No. Were they free? No.

Slavery is a condition of the mind. You can remove chains from off the neck, hands and feet but how do you remove the chains of the mind? You cannot do it if you do not embrace the One who has the power to set you free. All that God did to free them from Pharaoh was to show them that He had the power to set them free. Their actions in 20:18 showed God they were not willing to be set free.

Freedom apart from embracing your Savior and respecting the salvation that has been won for you only keeps you enslaved to the vain imaginations of your own mind. Freedom to pursue the lust of the flesh makes you a slave to those lusts.

Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Strong’s Number G3136 Mammon:

a common Aramaic word for “riches,” akin to a Hebrew word signifying “to be firm, steadfast” (whence “Amen”), hence, “that which is to be trusted;” Gesenius regards it as derived from a Heb. word signifying “treasure” (Gen.43:23); it is personified in Mat.6:24; Luk 16:9,11,13.

That which is to be trusted is a condition of the mind not the body. Do you trust God? Do you trust your Savior? Then whom do you serve? Service is the only indication of mental loyalty.

Can I get an AMEN?