Matthew 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

You could make a case that this is the most absurd thing Jesus ever said. God’s level of perfection is by definition an impossibility for fallible human beings. However, Jesus’ point is, naturally, an important and valid one. He has just been talking about various areas in which we comfort ourselves by comparisons with others, saying to ourselves, “At least I’m better than that other person.” This one statement blows all that out of the water. Our standard isn’t other people, it’s the God who created us. By that standard, we are all forced to humility and repentance, and that’s a good thing. We aren’t to be constantly picking at ourselves, but neither are we ever to think we’ve arrived and have nowhere else we need to improve. Paul is of course the great example of this, with his great declaration in Philippians 3:12-14. “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” When the man who penned half the New Testament said that, we should be able to understand what Jesus said, and allow the Holy Spirit to show us our imperfections so that we may keep growing.

I have struggled with comparing myself to other people, either positively or negatively, much of my life. Pride and even conceit have been major pitfalls for me, but often they have been subconscious coping mechanisms for inferiority I have felt in other areas. It has taken a long time for me to really grasp that, though I am far from perfect and have no grounds for personal pride, I am fully accepted in Christ by the grace of God. (Ephesians 1:6) At this point I find that lots of people compare themselves to me, and some of them want to give up because of it. I don’t need to parade my sordid history, but I need God’s wisdom and anointing to help people understand that His grace is just as available to them as to me. If He can work with me, then He can certainly work with them!

Father, thank You that You always challenge us to go deeper and higher. Help me keep growing, and use me to help others grow as well. May we all indeed fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) as our goal and our example, receiving Your love through Him but never thinking we’ve arrived, so that Your will may increasingly be done in and through us, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!