Perfected

From my Grace for the Moment devotional by Max Lucado:

      "'[With one sacrifice] He made perfect forever those who are being made holy.' (Heb 10:14). Underline the word perfect. Note that the word is not better. Not improving. Not on the upswing. God doesn't improve; He perfects. He doesn't enhance; He completes....
      Now I realize that there's a sense in which we're still imperfect. We still err. We still stumble. We still do exactly what we don't want to do. And that part of us is, according to the verse, 'being made holy.'
      But when it comes to our position before God, we're perfect. When He sees each of us, He sees one who has been made perfect through the One who is perfect - Jesus Christ.

      'You have begun to live the new life, in which you are being made new and are becoming like the One who made you.' (Col 3:10) I wonder if Jesus doesn't muster up a slight smile as He sees His lost sheep come straggling into the fold - the beaten, broken, dirty sheep who stands at the door looking up at the Shepherd asking, 'Can I come in? I don't deserve it, but is there room for one more?' The Shepherd looks down at the sheep and says, 'Come in, this is your home.'
      Salvation is the process that's done, that's secure, that no one can take away from you. Sanctification is the lifelong process of being changed from one degree of glory to the next, growing in Christ, putting away the old, taking on the new."