What do you think?
Rate this book
How to Be Perfect
Book by Murray, Andrew
143 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1982
8 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Murray
1,317 books564 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Murray was Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Murray became a noted missionary leader. His father was a Scottish Presbyterian serving the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa, and his mother had connections with both French Huguenots and German Lutherans. This background to some extent explains his ecumenical spirit. He was educated at Aberdeen University, Scotland, and at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. After ordination in 1848 he served pastorates at Bloemfontein, Worcester, Cape Town, and Wellington. He helped to found what are now the University College of the Orange Free State and the Stellenbosch Seminary. He served as Moderator of the Cape Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church and was president of both the YMCA (1865) and the South Africa General Mission (1888-1917), now the Africa Evangelical Fellowship.
He was one of the chief promoters of the call to missions in South Africa. This led to the Dutch Reformed Church missions to blacks in the Transvaal and Malawi. Apart from his evangelistic tours in South Africa, he spoke at the Keswick and Northfield Conventions in 1895, making a great impression. upon his British and American audiences. For his contribution to world missions he was given an honorary doctorate by the universities of Aberdeen (1898) and Cape of Good Hope(1907).
Murray is best known today for his devotional writings, which place great emphasis on the need for a rich, personal devotional life. Many of his 240 publications explain in how he saw this devotion and its outworking in the life of the Christian. Several of his books have become devotional classics. Among these are Abide in Christ, Absolute Surrender, With Christ in the School of Prayer, The Spirit of Christ and Waiting on God.
Murray was Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Murray became a noted missionary leader. His father was a Scottish Presbyterian serving the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa, and his mother had connections with both French Huguenots and German Lutherans. This background to some extent explains his ecumenical spirit. He was educated at Aberdeen University, Scotland, and at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. After ordination in 1848 he served pastorates at Bloemfontein, Worcester, Cape Town, and Wellington. He helped to found what are now the University College of the Orange Free State and the Stellenbosch Seminary. He served as Moderator of the Cape Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church and was president of both the YMCA (1865) and the South Africa General Mission (1888-1917), now the Africa Evangelical Fellowship.
He was one of the chief promoters of the call to missions in South Africa. This led to the Dutch Reformed Church missions to blacks in the Transvaal and Malawi. Apart from his evangelistic tours in South Africa, he spoke at the Keswick and Northfield Conventions in 1895, making a great impression. upon his British and American audiences. For his contribution to world missions he was given an honorary doctorate by the universities of Aberdeen (1898) and Cape of Good Hope(1907).
Murray is best known today for his devotional writings, which place great emphasis on the need for a rich, personal devotional life. Many of his 240 publications explain in how he saw this devotion and its outworking in the life of the Christian. Several of his books have become devotional classics. Among these are Abide in Christ, Absolute Surrender, With Christ in the School of Prayer, The Spirit of Christ and Waiting on God.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 9, 2019
Honestly, I had a harder time reading through Andrew Murray’s “Be Perfect,” than I did the prior two in this series. “Waiting on God” can be exciting, especially if God Himself is with me in the waiting, and I can usually wait, while I am awe-struck by Him. Well, unless I’m in pain. “Working for God” can also be exciting because volunteering or working for God gives us a front-row seat to see the amazing things He’s doing. But this book, “Be Perfect?” I have no desire to be perfect.
One time many years ago, a student came across me, outside reading a Bible, and jumped back as if I’d had a scorpion in my lap instead of a Bible. “Are you reading that to be good?”
“No, I’m reading it because it’s useful.” It was the first response out of my mouth, and I find I often think of the Bible that way. It’s useful for understanding relationships or finances or hundreds of other topics. God really does know what He’s talking about.
My sister told me later that I should’ve told the man that I was reading it to know about God or to deepen my relationship with God. She makes me smile, because that is a deeper, truer answer, and it is often a reason I read the Bible as well. But on that day, I was looking for answers for a teaching dilemma with one of my students, not the one with the question, and I was reading through the book of Proverbs.
I suppose I don’t do things with the goal of being “good,” or “perfect,” but because they work well. That’s probably an odd thing for a perfectionist to say. But I tend to be more of a perfectionist about getting mathematical answers exactly right than I am about … oh, I don’t know, leaving dirty dishes in the sink. There are some areas of life in which I don’t care about perfection at all. I’m more likely to say that I just have different priorities or say something about grace.
There’s also a misconception about the Biblical word for perfect. A closer translation would often be “mature.” And while I know that, I found that with some of these passages, I still had a mental image of a perfect test score.
For example, the verse, “In many things we all stumble. If anyone does not stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.” – James 3:2. I’d always taken this verse to mean something along the lines of, “We all stumble, and we’ll never be able to be perfect without any misspoken words or ideas, although we should strive to be careful in what we say.” Andrew Murray took it to mean that as we grow mature, our speech will mature, and we will not stumble in word. A massive difference, a more hopeful one, a more reachable goal, although yes, Andrew Murray makes it clear that God is the One doing the maturing or the perfecting of us.
Although I already knew this, I wished that Andrew Murray would have mentioned that sooner. He waited until the end of chapter 12 to say, “Perfection in a Biblical, spiritual sense is not to be confused with sinlessness or absence from error, but it is a maturity of the faith and practice in the Christian life that transcends mere religion and good works. ‘Lord, make me as perfectly holy as a redeemed sinner can be.’” I think the earlier part of the book may have been more clear if he had.
Still, even thinking about maturity can be pretty daunting, until one day, I linked the concepts of this book to the old hymn, Fanny Crosby’s “Draw Me Nearer.”
“I am Thine, O Lord, and I heard Thy voice,
as it spoke Thy love to me,
but I long to rise in the arms of faith
and be closer drawn to Thee…
“Consecrate me now, to Thy service, Lord,
by the power of Grace Devine,
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
and my will be lost in Thine.”
In his first chapter, Andrew Murray did list some Old Testament characters that were called “perfect” but were obviously not sinless: Noah (Genesis 6:9), Job (Job 1:8), David (1 Kings 11:4, 15:3), and Asa (1 Kings 15:14.) In that part of the book, Murray gave a looser definition of “perfect” as “intense, wholehearted devotion to God’s will and service.”
One thing that I like about these Andrew Murray books is that they are actually word studies. In this one, for example, Murray did a word study on the word “perfect,” (and also “perfection”), finding all the references to those words in the scripture, pulling them out, and studying them in the light of the word ‘perfect’ to get a whole, balanced picture of what the Bible teaches on the subject. In his preface in this book, he said, “It is only when we have yielded ourselves simply and prayerfully to allow the words of Scripture to have their full force, that we are on the right track for combining the different aspects of truth into one harmonious whole.”
“By slow steps we have to master now one side of truth and then another – to practice now one grace and then the very opposite.”
There were many verses, some I knew, some I didn’t, and some although I knew somewhat, I hadn’t realized that the word “perfect” was hiding there in plain sight. In fact, there were so many verses on being perfect that I have to concede it must be pretty important to be so often in Holy Writ.
“The God of peace Himself perfect you.”
Next, Murray showed us various Old Testament verses where we ourselves are told to be perfect, and the context is always in relationship with God or walking with God. (Genesis 17:1-3, Deuteronomy 18:13, 1 Kings 8:61) So, he paraphrased it as “God’s realized presence is the school and the secret of perfection… Let your life be spent in His presence.”
Murray talked about how having a perfect [mature] heart does not mean perfect work [without error.] He mentioned Paul’s wrestling with sin and Jesus Himself saying of His disciples, “The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”
Murray demonstrated the link between perfection and prayer with the two prayers David prayed on the matter, one for his son Solomon (1 Chronicles 29:19) and one for himself (Psalm 119:80.) Later on, Murray also talked about perfection and prayer with the New Testament verse 2 Corinthians 13:9, 11.
“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” – 2 Chronicles 16:9. I probably would’ve thought that verse rules me out, and yet, Murray presents both maturity and God showing Himself strongly on our behalf as very real possibilities, very attainable.
“It is God Who girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect.” – Psalm 18:32. Murray talked about how God is the one Who is perfecting us, making us mature.
“A man may have his heart intent on serving God perfectly, and yet may be unconscious how very imperfect his knowledge of God’s will is.”
Murray talked about verses that use the word “perfect” in relation to humility, persecution, (Luke 6:36,40), holiness (2 Corinthians 7:1) wisdom (2 Corinthians 2:60), poverty (Matthew 19:21), in the will of God (Colossians 4:12), discernment (Hebrews 5:14;6:1), keeping God’s Word (1 John 2:5, 1 John 14:23), and love (1 John 2:5, 1 John 4:11-13, 17-18.)
Murray gave a third definition of “perfect” as “to bring a thing into its right condition, so that it is as it should be.”
“The consciousness of acting up to the full light of what we know to be right is a most blessed thing, one of the marks of the perfect heart. But it must ever be accompanied with the remembrance of how much there may be that has not yet been revealed to us. This sense of ignorance as to much of God’s will this conviction that there is still much in us that needs to be changed, and sanctified, and perfected, will make us very humble and tender, very watchful and hopeful in prayer. So far from interfering with our consciousness that we serve God with a perfect heart, it will give it new strength, while it cultivates that humility which is the greatest beauty of perfection.”
Murray also studied the strong Biblical link between perfection and suffering (Hebrews 2:10, Hebrews 5:8-9, Hebrews 7:28,) and the inability of the law to bring us to perfection (Hebrews 7:11-19, Hebrews 9:9, Hebrews 10:1, Hebrews 11:40,) but how God Himself works it in us (Hebrews 13:20-21, 1 Peter 5:10-11,) and with patience (James 1:4.)
“There is a nearness in which we lose ourselves, and God is all in all.”
“With a perfect man, Thou wilt show Thyself perfect” – Psalm 18:25
“Blessed are they that are perfect in the way … that seek Him with the whole heart.” – Psalm 119:2
One time many years ago, a student came across me, outside reading a Bible, and jumped back as if I’d had a scorpion in my lap instead of a Bible. “Are you reading that to be good?”
“No, I’m reading it because it’s useful.” It was the first response out of my mouth, and I find I often think of the Bible that way. It’s useful for understanding relationships or finances or hundreds of other topics. God really does know what He’s talking about.
My sister told me later that I should’ve told the man that I was reading it to know about God or to deepen my relationship with God. She makes me smile, because that is a deeper, truer answer, and it is often a reason I read the Bible as well. But on that day, I was looking for answers for a teaching dilemma with one of my students, not the one with the question, and I was reading through the book of Proverbs.
I suppose I don’t do things with the goal of being “good,” or “perfect,” but because they work well. That’s probably an odd thing for a perfectionist to say. But I tend to be more of a perfectionist about getting mathematical answers exactly right than I am about … oh, I don’t know, leaving dirty dishes in the sink. There are some areas of life in which I don’t care about perfection at all. I’m more likely to say that I just have different priorities or say something about grace.
There’s also a misconception about the Biblical word for perfect. A closer translation would often be “mature.” And while I know that, I found that with some of these passages, I still had a mental image of a perfect test score.
For example, the verse, “In many things we all stumble. If anyone does not stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.” – James 3:2. I’d always taken this verse to mean something along the lines of, “We all stumble, and we’ll never be able to be perfect without any misspoken words or ideas, although we should strive to be careful in what we say.” Andrew Murray took it to mean that as we grow mature, our speech will mature, and we will not stumble in word. A massive difference, a more hopeful one, a more reachable goal, although yes, Andrew Murray makes it clear that God is the One doing the maturing or the perfecting of us.
Although I already knew this, I wished that Andrew Murray would have mentioned that sooner. He waited until the end of chapter 12 to say, “Perfection in a Biblical, spiritual sense is not to be confused with sinlessness or absence from error, but it is a maturity of the faith and practice in the Christian life that transcends mere religion and good works. ‘Lord, make me as perfectly holy as a redeemed sinner can be.’” I think the earlier part of the book may have been more clear if he had.
Still, even thinking about maturity can be pretty daunting, until one day, I linked the concepts of this book to the old hymn, Fanny Crosby’s “Draw Me Nearer.”
“I am Thine, O Lord, and I heard Thy voice,
as it spoke Thy love to me,
but I long to rise in the arms of faith
and be closer drawn to Thee…
“Consecrate me now, to Thy service, Lord,
by the power of Grace Devine,
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
and my will be lost in Thine.”
In his first chapter, Andrew Murray did list some Old Testament characters that were called “perfect” but were obviously not sinless: Noah (Genesis 6:9), Job (Job 1:8), David (1 Kings 11:4, 15:3), and Asa (1 Kings 15:14.) In that part of the book, Murray gave a looser definition of “perfect” as “intense, wholehearted devotion to God’s will and service.”
One thing that I like about these Andrew Murray books is that they are actually word studies. In this one, for example, Murray did a word study on the word “perfect,” (and also “perfection”), finding all the references to those words in the scripture, pulling them out, and studying them in the light of the word ‘perfect’ to get a whole, balanced picture of what the Bible teaches on the subject. In his preface in this book, he said, “It is only when we have yielded ourselves simply and prayerfully to allow the words of Scripture to have their full force, that we are on the right track for combining the different aspects of truth into one harmonious whole.”
“By slow steps we have to master now one side of truth and then another – to practice now one grace and then the very opposite.”
There were many verses, some I knew, some I didn’t, and some although I knew somewhat, I hadn’t realized that the word “perfect” was hiding there in plain sight. In fact, there were so many verses on being perfect that I have to concede it must be pretty important to be so often in Holy Writ.
“The God of peace Himself perfect you.”
Next, Murray showed us various Old Testament verses where we ourselves are told to be perfect, and the context is always in relationship with God or walking with God. (Genesis 17:1-3, Deuteronomy 18:13, 1 Kings 8:61) So, he paraphrased it as “God’s realized presence is the school and the secret of perfection… Let your life be spent in His presence.”
Murray talked about how having a perfect [mature] heart does not mean perfect work [without error.] He mentioned Paul’s wrestling with sin and Jesus Himself saying of His disciples, “The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”
Murray demonstrated the link between perfection and prayer with the two prayers David prayed on the matter, one for his son Solomon (1 Chronicles 29:19) and one for himself (Psalm 119:80.) Later on, Murray also talked about perfection and prayer with the New Testament verse 2 Corinthians 13:9, 11.
“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” – 2 Chronicles 16:9. I probably would’ve thought that verse rules me out, and yet, Murray presents both maturity and God showing Himself strongly on our behalf as very real possibilities, very attainable.
“It is God Who girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect.” – Psalm 18:32. Murray talked about how God is the one Who is perfecting us, making us mature.
“A man may have his heart intent on serving God perfectly, and yet may be unconscious how very imperfect his knowledge of God’s will is.”
Murray talked about verses that use the word “perfect” in relation to humility, persecution, (Luke 6:36,40), holiness (2 Corinthians 7:1) wisdom (2 Corinthians 2:60), poverty (Matthew 19:21), in the will of God (Colossians 4:12), discernment (Hebrews 5:14;6:1), keeping God’s Word (1 John 2:5, 1 John 14:23), and love (1 John 2:5, 1 John 4:11-13, 17-18.)
Murray gave a third definition of “perfect” as “to bring a thing into its right condition, so that it is as it should be.”
“The consciousness of acting up to the full light of what we know to be right is a most blessed thing, one of the marks of the perfect heart. But it must ever be accompanied with the remembrance of how much there may be that has not yet been revealed to us. This sense of ignorance as to much of God’s will this conviction that there is still much in us that needs to be changed, and sanctified, and perfected, will make us very humble and tender, very watchful and hopeful in prayer. So far from interfering with our consciousness that we serve God with a perfect heart, it will give it new strength, while it cultivates that humility which is the greatest beauty of perfection.”
Murray also studied the strong Biblical link between perfection and suffering (Hebrews 2:10, Hebrews 5:8-9, Hebrews 7:28,) and the inability of the law to bring us to perfection (Hebrews 7:11-19, Hebrews 9:9, Hebrews 10:1, Hebrews 11:40,) but how God Himself works it in us (Hebrews 13:20-21, 1 Peter 5:10-11,) and with patience (James 1:4.)
“There is a nearness in which we lose ourselves, and God is all in all.”
“With a perfect man, Thou wilt show Thyself perfect” – Psalm 18:25
“Blessed are they that are perfect in the way … that seek Him with the whole heart.” – Psalm 119:2
March 1, 2011
Everything Andrew Murray wrote is profound and potentially life-changing, and this book is no exception. It has been a long time since I read it, and I don't remember it as clearly as some of his other books. I do remember, though, that he took his usually no-compromise approach. He believes God truly wants us to be perfect, and that God has given us his Holy Spirit for just that reason.
April 25, 2016
Thirty-one days' worth of daily devotional Bible readings on spiritual perfection. Perfection is attainable and should be the core message of every Christian preacher. Poverty, suffering and obedience are all part of perfection. Not bad but repetitive.
March 31, 2015
Murray does a good job of what the word 'perfect' means in the Bible as pertaining to Christians. This is a devotional (31 days) to teach the Christian how they can become perfect or mature.
March 31, 2015
Another very good book by Murray.
Read
June 2, 2017I love Murray. Like all his other books, this too offers the reader challenge after challenge. A 31 chapter "devotional" examining what scripture says about perfection.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews