365 Days of the Great Names of God, Day 250: Perfecter

Perfecter

"So then let's also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let's throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up, and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith's pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of him, and sat down at the right side of God's throne." (Hebrews 12:1,2 CEB)

I read once that, in the history of the United States, when new territories were being settled and new towns established, men came and refaced, while women came and refined. The men cleared roads and put up structures, but the women added finishing touches. Men built houses; women hung curtains at the windows. 

First, there was the pioneering; then there was the "perfecting," after a fashion.

Of course, Jesus as the Pioneer of our faith (or as anything else, for that matter) leaves nothing undone or unfinished. But He is founding faith in imperfect, unfinished people, and so He has work left to do on us after He pioneers faith in us. This is His work as Finisher and Perfecter and Completer. 

Our faith initially is something like a claim shanty...those hastily constructed shelters settlers would put up on the piece of land they were hoping to prove up on and own outright. These shanties were shelters in the sense that they had walls and a roof, but there were lots of cracks in the walls, and the roofs were not sealed. There were no floors initially. When winds and rain and snow came, the shanties provided little protection, and they were easily damaged by storms. The people living in them were often tempted or forced to go back home, back to where they had come from, back to what was established and secure. 

Our faith, in its early days, is a lot like these claim shanties. The basic structure is there, but there are a lot of gaps and holes. When storms come, we are easily damaged and tempted to go back home, to what is safe and familiar. But Jesus our Pioneer comes along as faith's Perfecter and fills in the gaps. He adds tar paper to the roof so it's watertight. He shores things up. He puts in a floor so our faith's foundation is solid. 

Over time, as we live in it for a while, our faith becomes more established. We are less likely to abandon it and more likely to stake our claim to it. When the going gets tough, we are less likely to say that we want to leave it and go back home and more likely to realize that, with Christ, our faith IS home.