Aim for perfection

“Finally, brothers, goodbye. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.” 2 Corinthians 13:11
We know that salvation has three tenses: justification, which is in the past, a singular event where we accept the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf and are saved; sanctification, which is in the present, an ongoing process whereby we are being conformed to the image of Christ; and glorification, which is a future event, the goal of every Christian, to be transformed into our new spiritual bodies and dwell in heaven with Christ forever.
This phrase ‘Aim for perfection’, relates to sanctification. The Greek word is katatizo, meaning to thorougly complete. It is used twelve times in the Scriptures: (a) in terms of repairing: of James and John ‘mending’ their fishing nets (Matt. 4:21, Mark 1:19); (b) in terms of preparing: of the world being created (Heb. 11:3), a body being prepared for Christ (Heb. 10:5, a quotation of Ps. 40:6), and the ungodly being prepared for destruction (Rom. 9:22); (c) in terms of being restored (Gal. 6:1); (d) in terms of something or someone being perfected (praise, Matt. 21:16; a student, Luke 6:40; believers being joined together, 1 Cor. 1:10; faith, 1 Thess. 3:10; good works, Heb. 13:21; a work done by God, 1 Pet. 5:10).
We cannot become sanctified through our own efforts, any more than we can be justified by our own efforts. This process of becoming perfected or completed, the process of sanctification, is something that God does in us (1 Pet. 5:10). However, we can imede His work. Are you striving for perfection today – allowing God to shape you and mould you into the image of Christ? Or are you holding onto some aspects of the old life that Christ saved you from?