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Weekly Devotional ..................
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Complete PerfectionMatthew 5:48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. The Bible is very clear about one thing … the perfection of God. Even more imponderable than clear, is the biblical mandate for the children of God to also be perfect like God. Sure, it’s easy enough to see that God is “perfect” but it is impossible to see how we can be perfect too. We fail to comprehend what God is telling us through scripture because we do not understand how the English language has failed us in this matter. For the most part, whenever you read the word “perfect” in an English translation of the Bible, you should understand it as “complete”. Completion connotes what the original word denotes; that is, no lack of that which is good. Since we have invoked the word “good”, we must also address the word “evil” if the sensibility of perfection is to be accessed personally. What is good? What is evil? These questions sometimes make philosophers brawl over the meaning and import of the concepts therein. Basically, we define evil in terms of good because evil does not exist in and of itself; evil is the absence or privation of that which is good. It is like a hole in something … in order for there to be a hole, there must be something in which a hole can be placed by taking that portion away. Perfection is the opposite of evil because there is no lacking of anything good. But aren’t good and evil opposites? No. Goodness is freedom. God is good for lots of reasons, but most noticeably because “it was for freedom that Christ has set you free.” God has never stopped issuing freedom to anyone who will take it. Before the Fall of Man He gave freedom, after the Fall of Man He gave freedom and today He is still giving us freedom. Freedom from sin, freedom from guilt, and freedom from shame … the list goes on. If freedom is the ultimate good … and it is, then all of the things that Christ has set us free from (sin, guilt, etc.) must be the things that get in the way of completion; or as the Bible likes to put it, perfection. Don’t think that the Bible is telling you to become just as perfect as the infinite and eternal God in heaven is, but rather to become perfect “LIKE” He is perfect. He is perfect because He is complete and you can be perfect “LIKE” Him because He is living in you. Give the Lord a chance to “conform you to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.” Think about it… |
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