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Chasing Perfection

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

No big deal, right? You’re just supposed to be perfect—as the holy, righteous God of the entire universe is perfect.

No big deal, right?

Yeah, not so much.

If you were to make yourself perfect, where would you even start? God is perfect because no sin, or wrongdoing, exists in Him. We’re not talking about the world’s idea of perfection here—perfect clothes, a perfect house, a perfect spouse. What we’re talking about is so much higher than that. You would need to be sinless. No lying, no cursing, no snapping at the kids, or “borrowing” your friend’s Netflix password.

Let’s pretend you say, “Sure. I can do that.” And you do. You clean up your act. You obey the speed limit. You give to the poor. You pay for Netflix yourself. And you do this for days, then weeks, then months, then years.

But you still wouldn’t be perfect.

See, there’s the small matter of the sins you’ve already committed. Like James 2:10 says—if you keep every law in God’s Word, but fail once, you’re still on the hook.

So, where do you go from here?

In Matthew 19, a wealthy young man found himself trying to be better. He asked Jesus what he should do to get eternal life. Jesus told him to obey the major commandments. The young man said that he had kept each of those commandments. Then, Jesus replied, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Jesus wasn’t telling the young man that becoming perfect was a two-step plan. First, obey the commandments, and second, give away all your stuff. Jesus was saying the path to perfection starts with getting rid of whatever might keep a person from following Him.

But perfect? How could anyone be perfect? This is not the world’s kind of perfect. It’s so much better. When you choose to follow Christ, He covers your sins and imperfections with the death He died on the cross. And in God’s eyes, you become every bit as perfect as Christ Himself.

Pray: God, thank You for the perfect sacrifice of Your Son. Help me to give up anything that’s preventing me from following Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.