Perfect

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matt. 5:48).”

I just finished watching one of those competitive races on television, where couples take on various challenges over a series of several weeks, hoping to win a million dollars.  Inevitably, the couples end up arguing, sometimes name-calling, and being quite frustrated with each other.  It is amazing to me how individuals who are extremely successful in other areas of their lives, can be made to feel so inadequate; all because they can’t eat grilled cobra or bungee jump from a bridge.

I see this on a regular basis in individuals and couples that come to my office.  People who feel they have to be perfect in everything.  It is a horrible affliction to have and carry with oneself throughout your life.  Often, it has to do with trying to measure up to some unrealistic expectation, some unattainable standard of excellence that isn’t even measureable.  I usually ask them who they are trying to please.  They use words like “should,” “ought,” and “have to.”  Again, somewhat rhetorically, I ask, “Who says so?”

At one time, I battled the same demon.  I grew up, like many of these individuals feeling I could never be good enough.  As a result, I determined to try harder.  Unfortunately, I carried this attitude over into my relationship with God.  I thought I “must (should, ought, have to) be perfect.”  With some relief, I now know this isn’t true.

The Greek word used here refers to being finished, having reached its end, as in something being completed.  Any of these words could easily be substituted.  We tend to focus on the word “be,” assuming that it is a state we are to be in right now.  However, the verb tense in the Greek supports a different conclusion.  We are to make this our aim.

Jesus had been encouraging his disciples, in the previous verses, to love the way the Father loves, not just our neighbor, but even our enemies.  He concludes with challenging them to be perfect (to love) the way the Father does.  B.W. Johnson writes in his commentary, “It will require a constant struggle while in the flesh to come near so high an ideal, but it must be our continual aim (People’s New Testament with Notes).”  On this earth, we will not “attain absolute perfection, but we have placed before us, as a model, the perfect ideal, and we will constantly ascend higher by striving to attain to it.”

We don’t have to beat ourselves up for not being perfect.  Christ became the perfect sacrifice on our parts.  That is not the expectation placed upon us.  It is our aim, and praise God, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6).”

Godspeed, Phil