Remember the bumper sticker, 'Not perfect, just forgiven'? Well, take that bumper sticker off because it's bad theology.
We ARE being perfected. Jesus tells us to be perfect. Forgiveness may be in a moment but perfection, which is sanctification, is happening our whole lives. Sanctification means being separate and holy. We are people who are constantly being separated from the ways of the world to be more conformed into the likeness of Christ. Our character is becoming more like Christ's.
When Paul writes in Philippians 2 that we are to work out our salvation, that is what sanctification is about. For not only are we making an effort but God is working his will in our lives. It's God's work of grace that allows us to keep working out our salvation. Remember that our effort to be more like Christ is not 'earning' salvation. That was done for us by God through Christ. Now the Holy Spirit is alive and at work within us to bring us into an ever deeper relationship with God. And, as the Keith Green song lyrics tell it, 'You give God your best and he'll take care of the rest.'
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