Be ye
therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Matthew
5:48).
Some people,
because they haven’t been accurately taught the Word, believe and hold on to
wrong teachings and ideas for many years. That something sounds nice and
religious doesn’t mean it’s consistent with God’s Word. For example, there’re
those who say, “We’re never going to be perfect. As long as we’re in this
physical body, we’re going to sin; we’re going to keep making mistakes.” But
this isn’t what the Bible teaches. Many of those who have such beliefs got it
from their own experiences. They think everybody else is making mistakes
somehow, because they’re making mistakes in their own lives. So, they don’t
believe in perfection. But the problem is that they don’t know what perfection
in Christ is.
When you
study the Word, there’s no place that suggests to us the impossibility of
perfection. We read in our theme verse: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your
Father which is in heaven is perfect.” The word, “perfect” is the Greek,
“teleios,” meaning “full grown”; complete and nothing lacking. In this verse,
God wants you to measure your heart with the heart of God. And the way to do
this is through the Word. When you think, love and forgive others as God wants
you to; when you have the heart of the Father, that’s being perfect as He is
perfect. If we couldn’t be perfect, God would never require it of us.
Inspire
those around you by the excellence of your life, and the perfection with which
you do what you do, through the Spirit. The Bible says He’s called us to “glory
and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3). That means He’s called you to excellence; therefore,
living an excellent life is native to your spirit. Believe in perfection, for
that’s your life and nature in Christ Jesus.
The Bible
says He died to present you sin-free and perfect before the Father: “And you,
who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He
has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and
blameless, and above reproach in His sight” (Colossians 1:21-22 NKJV).
