June 11th
June 11th
Matthew 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
How is this possible?
Two things to consider about this verse. First, it must be possible, or Jesus wouldn’t have said it. If it wasn’t possible and He commanded it, then He would be condemning us to a hopeless failure. So, we must get that idea behind us. The easiest way for the enemy to defeat us is by starting us off believing we can’t do it anyway. If Jesus said to do it, then there must be a way it is possible.
The second thing to know is that we may be using the wrong definition for this word. The word perfect in this verse is the Greek word telos. In this case telos implies: “moving toward the end with a deep sense of purpose.” It does not mean absolute, divine perfection.
This command that Jesus makes is a command to move toward the purpose for which we were created.
For what purpose were we created?
We were created to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.
Luke 10:27-28 He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ “ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
The call to be perfect, is a call to love.
This command to love God with our whole being should be our singular goal in everything in life. If this is our goal which guides every part of our being, our thoughts, our actions, our choices, then we will not be able to skip loving others, which is the second commandment.
So, to be perfect, we need to love; to love, we need to be holy; to be holy, we need more holy presence of God/Holy Spirit in our lives. Notice a trend here? -We don’t need to focus on less sin, instead, we need more Jesus then the less sin part will come.
Jesus, you know the end of me and the beginning of you, help that line move so that you fill me up with so much of you that your love overflows from me. When I stress about my flaws, help me to give them to you and lean in to your perfect love. Thank you for your perfect love and perfect life changing plan!