Psalm 17:15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

I avoid mirrors like the plague. All I see is a tired old man who is overweight and balding. Mirrors are brutally honest. I doubt I will ever be satisfied with my image because I am human.

If I were to try and see Jesus in the mirror, I would be sorely disappointed. So how do we see Jesus? How do we behold His face? The simple answer is by faith but I have to ask, are you satisfied with what you see by faith?

This is always a problem for us if we only look to self-reflection to see Jesus. I know Him by His Word and I admit I don’t measure up. No matter how hard I try I will never be Jesus. So what can we do to help ourselves?

How about taking a realistic view of our change. Are we the people we were a year ago or five years ago, or at our lowest point where we admitted we needed God’s help? No. We are not the same.

We set goals in life in order to achieve better things for ourselves. Careers are usually measured by milestones of education, promotion and salary. How are we to measure growth in Christ? When will we be satisfied?

Psalm 42:1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

If I am going to be honest with myself, the satisfaction of Ps 17:15 will only come after I have been translated and this life is over.

If we look to be satisfied, we will be satisfied. The flesh which is fading away will say enough is enough. I’m good enough. That is the failure of self-satisfaction, we lose our thirst for God.

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

This is what Matthew Henry had to comment on Hebrews 6:1. “We have here the apostle’s advice to the Hebrews-that they would grow up from a state of childhood to the fullness of the stature of the new man in Christ.”

This matches up well with my assertion yesterday about Paul’s call to forward momentum to this goal, to grow up in Christ. We still have to deal with this idea of perfection and what that may mean. To paraphrase the Greek meaning of teleiotes here it means to be smarter about it. Our understanding must be more in line with what God says about your life in Christ.

Ephesians 4:14-16 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

The key words here in this Ephesians quote is grow up. What is the sign of spiritual and moral growth in Christ? Learn to love better.

How many times have we walked away for a situation and said to ourselves, “I could have handled that better.” We might know what our intentions are but our performance in the moment didn’t meet up to our expectations. This is an issue of conscience. Is it the old man’s conscience or the new man’s conscience? If we are to grow up in Him then it should be the new man’s conscience.