Focus on Jesus WHAT ABOUT PERFECTION?
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matt. 5:48.
There is a vast difference between the legitimate study of the subject of perfection and becoming involved in perfectionism. A person who is into perfectionism is one who becomes preoccupied with perfection. He thinks of little else. He focuses his attention primarily on the subject of perfection, and everybody else's as well. The perfectionist is the one who insists that the sinful nature gets eradicated before Jesus comes, that not only can we overcome but we can become sinless in ourselves. I would like to disclaim any kind of identity with perfectionism--but the doctrine of perfection is a good Bible doctrine, a good Bible teaching, which Jesus Himself taught.
In our text for today it says, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." There are those who would like to say that the word perfect in the Bible means nothing more than mature. And it's true that the original word includes the idea of maturity. But the word mature is a stronger word than perfect. It carries with it the idea of ultimate perfection. Jesus allowed for growth in the Christian life. This is clear in Mark 4:28: "First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." A blade can be a perfect blade, and an ear can be a perfect ear. But the full corn in the ear is not only perfect but mature as well. So we are told that at every stage of development we may be perfect (Christ's Object Lessons, p. 65). You can have a perfect baby, one that gurgles and coos. You can have a perfect 1-year-old, who chatters and jabbers. But if a person is still gurgling and cooing and jabbering at age 20, we get nervous!
I'm thankful for the concept of perfection given by Jesus, aren't you? It may be very likely that some of us are still in the stages of growth! But we can still be perfect for the stage that we're in.
Let's not make excuses while we are growing in Christ. Let's not make excuses for sinning, or assume that because we have not yet achieved perfect maturity that it is not possible--that we will continue to fall and fail indefinitely. Perfection--perfect maturity--is God's goal for each of us.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matt. 5:48.
There is a vast difference between the legitimate study of the subject of perfection and becoming involved in perfectionism. A person who is into perfectionism is one who becomes preoccupied with perfection. He thinks of little else. He focuses his attention primarily on the subject of perfection, and everybody else's as well. The perfectionist is the one who insists that the sinful nature gets eradicated before Jesus comes, that not only can we overcome but we can become sinless in ourselves. I would like to disclaim any kind of identity with perfectionism--but the doctrine of perfection is a good Bible doctrine, a good Bible teaching, which Jesus Himself taught.
In our text for today it says, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." There are those who would like to say that the word perfect in the Bible means nothing more than mature. And it's true that the original word includes the idea of maturity. But the word mature is a stronger word than perfect. It carries with it the idea of ultimate perfection. Jesus allowed for growth in the Christian life. This is clear in Mark 4:28: "First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." A blade can be a perfect blade, and an ear can be a perfect ear. But the full corn in the ear is not only perfect but mature as well. So we are told that at every stage of development we may be perfect (Christ's Object Lessons, p. 65). You can have a perfect baby, one that gurgles and coos. You can have a perfect 1-year-old, who chatters and jabbers. But if a person is still gurgling and cooing and jabbering at age 20, we get nervous!
I'm thankful for the concept of perfection given by Jesus, aren't you? It may be very likely that some of us are still in the stages of growth! But we can still be perfect for the stage that we're in.
Let's not make excuses while we are growing in Christ. Let's not make excuses for sinning, or assume that because we have not yet achieved perfect maturity that it is not possible--that we will continue to fall and fail indefinitely. Perfection--perfect maturity--is God's goal for each of us.
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