Thesis 03: From Flawed Perfection to Divine Rest

We often find ourselves caught in the middle of a series of conundrums throughout life, leading us to make decisions based on pure head knowledge. But what if we made our choices from a place of divine rest? What if the reason why we live in constant fear, anxiety and worry is because we see through a lens of flawed perfection?

In this thesis, I want to explore the implications of the following verse:

Faith (not willpower) realizes our immediate access into God’s rest. Hear the echo of God’s cry through the ages, Oh! If only they would enter into my rest. His rest celebrates perfection. His work is complete; the fall of mankind did not flaw its perfection.
Hebrews 4:3 Mirror Bible

From this foundation I want to express the tension between the perfection of God's creation and the disruption caused by humanity's fall, emphasizing how faith—not human effort or willpower—restores access to this divine rest.

I want to begin by talking about the nature of Abba’s rest. The Trinity spoke in Genesis 1:27, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” You and I, we look like something, someone... We weren’t created with anything else in mind. We were blessed in the beloved. Rest began here: when Abba said that we were made in His image and likeness.

Rest is not stillness. Rest is movement. Rest is celebration. Rest is the joyous declaration: It is finished!

But causes one to not live in the rest of God? What is the instigator to our lives living in constant anxiety and self-effort? I’ll tell you what I have discovered. It’s our duplicity. It’s our unbelief. It is our flawed perceptions of our perfection in Christ. Isn’t that what Adam believed before he ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil?

Let’s take a look:

“Now the snake was the most cunning of all living beings that Yahweh-God had made. He deviously asked the woman, “Did God really tell you, ‘You must not eat fruit from any tree of the garden ... ?’” But the woman interrupted, “—We may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except the tree in the center of the garden. God told us, ‘Don’t eat its fruit, or even touch it, or you’ll die.’” But the snake said to her, “You certainly won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,knowing both good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree produced delicious fruit, delightful to look upon, and desirable to give one insight, she took its fruit and ate it. She gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he also ate it. immediately, their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked, vulnerable, and ashamed; so they sewed fig leaves together for coverings.”

Genesis 3:1-6 The Passion Translation

Why did they choose to eat the fruit? Was it out of pure spite because they thought God was holding out on them? Or was it because they sincerely wanted to be like their Papa? But earlier in the story, the Trinity spoke, “Let Us make man in Our image...”

Adam failed to enter into God’s finished work, which was the creation of humans in His image, perfect, righteous and holy. Truly, the great need of the human heart is zoe life, union with God, not knowledge. God never intended for man to covet knowledge apart from walking in union with Him. In the beginning, God didn’t give Adam a list of commandments but offered him living food to sustain him. Christ is that Living Tree.

Adam and Eve were not satisfied with what they saw and knew concerning the Trinity, so as a result Abba was not their rest. They exhausted themselves in unbelief. Isn’t that what we do today? We exhaust ourselves in futile attempts of finding rest outside of the truth that we are indeed perfect. Rest celebrates perfection.

This is essentially what having a flawed perfection means.

Here is my definition of it:
It’s the inability to see what Abba has done with us in Christ. It’s our firm no! to how Abba created us.

Ultimately, what the Father desires from us is simply to see the completed work of the Cross. Moreover, He desires for us to see the same perfection that He saw when He first created mankind in His image and what He saw in the perfect obedience of His Son, Jesus. Paul caught this ecstatic revelation when he declared, “In love he chose us before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with an unstained innocence.” (Ephesians 1:4 TPT)

In simple terms, we have become numb to the reality of our perfection since the foundation of the world that we have mistaken faith as some form of willpower rather than faith being what is true about Abba and what He believes about us. When we realize that we are indeed innocent in the eyes of Abba apart from any contribution that we have made, we are freely released to start living in the true rest of God.

So, what am I saying here? I am saying that identity is very important to you and I, living in the rest of God every single day. This is the true definition of faith. It is to believe what is true of you in Christ. Most of us grew up being taught, “Oh, if you just have enough faith, only then God will do etc...” If we were living by our own faith, we’d fail every time. That is why we live by the faith of the Son of God who dispensed his life into ours.”

When we discover that Jesus is indeed infused in us and in our lives, we begin to truly live by faith, by his faith. And living by his faith is living authentically whole, loved and secure in our joint-sonship.

We are living by faith not willpower. Religion has hijacked faith and turned it into some form of strong-arming God into saving us, accepting us, and blessing us. Francios du Toit beautifully says, “We did not invent faith; it was God’s faith to begin with. It is from faith to faith, says Paul in Romans 1:17. Jesus is the source and conclusion of faith (Hebrews 12:2).”

We spend so much time boasting about how much we have to get things done in the Kingdom of God when in fact everything is already finished. This faith that I am speaking of is the persuasion of Abba’s affection towards and His opinion of us since the foundation of the world.

The pure, undiluted gospel of Jesus Christ is a non-enduring gospel. The very essence of it is rest. It’s resting in our acceptance in the beloved, resting in him being our holiness and sanctification. When I say endure, I mean that we no longer have to weather the storms of life in order to become holy or more perfect in the Father’s eyes. Much like our ancestors, even though they witnessed the supernatural all day, every day for 40 years, they remained more persuaded about what they did not have, and who they weren’t rather than being assured of their authentic identity. They refused to believe and walk in the finished works of Jesus. It was their unbelief that interfered with what they already had available to them in Christ.

Having an inferiority complex (Perception of an inferior identity) will prevent us from any progression in our union with God. This is essentially where the foundation of rest is: In Union with God. It’s how we enter into His rest in the first place.

A lot, if not, most translations read, “I have sworn in my wrath that they will never enter into my rest.” Now, this text does not say that they will never enter into my rest. There is still an opportunity here. Rest is a choice. But just like the Israelites, they were stubborn in their own thinking, refusing to agree with God’s perspective of them that they never experienced Yahweh’s rest, even in the midst of their journey in the wilderness.

“Those who first heard the good news of deliverance failed to enter into that realm of faith’s rest because of their unbelieving hearts. Yet the fact remains that we still have the opportunity to enter into the faith-rest life and experience the fulfillment of the promise!”
Hebrews 4:6 The Passion Translation

Why did they fail to experience God’s rest? It was because of their unbelief. They believed a lie about themselves. That’s essentially what sin (hamartia) is. It’s to believe a lie about yourself, to live out of the blueprint of your design. But if you read on in verse 6, there is good news. What still rings true today is that there is still an opportunity to enter into the rest that Israel failed to access because of their unbelief. Israel was even the first to hear the Good News of God’s intention to restore humanity to the same Sabbath that Adam had lost. Adam believed a lie about himself and as did Israel.

David’s prophecy is an announcement, “Today when hearing my voice, do not so with a calloused heart.” (See Psalm 95:8, Hebrews 3:15) It’s an announcement that we have rebelled against our original design. We have rebelled against His invitation to rest in the finished work. Abba’s rest (finished work) doesn’t exclude from possessing that rest, our unbelief does.

In conclusion, the essence of Abba’s call is to live, move, and fully embrace our identity (Acts 17:28), allowing our lives to flow in a continual, restful state of bliss rooted in the confidence of our union with the Trinity.

If the Father knows what is true about us, what is it that we must do to enter into that rest? It is simply said that we must align with or come into agreement with what He says about us and abandon our futile attempts to become and celebrate his likeness within us.

This truth is rooted in His perspective, which is unchanging and eternal. It is not based on our performance, failures, or achievements but on our inherent value as His creation and children. Scripture often reinforces this idea:

“Before I shaped you in the womb,h I knew you intimately. I had divine plans for you before I gave you life, and I set you apart and chose you to be mine.”
Jeremiah 1:5 The Passion Translation

“You formed my innermost being, shaping my delicate inside
and my intricate outside, and wove them all together in my mother’s womb.”

Psalm 139:13 The Passion Translation

From this perspective, God sees us as whole, complete, and perfectly crafted in His image, reflecting His divine nature and purpose. Even when we struggle to perceive this reality or fall short in living it out, His view of us remains unchanged. Our unbelief, insecurities, and failures do not diminish the inherent value and beauty He has placed within us. Instead, He lovingly calls us to align with His truth, reminding us that our worth is not determined by our performance but by His unchanging design and unconditional love.