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Are You Perfect
Are You Perfect
Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48)
More often than not, when we hear the word perfect being used we think in terms of being without fault, flawless and unblemished and because of this, if someone were to ask us if we are perfect, our first inclination is to quickly say no. We all have faults. flaws and blemishes that often show up in what we say or do (Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8-10). Yet, Jesus is telling us that we are to be perfect. Is He telling us to be something that it is impossible to be? I think not.
Listen as the writer of Hebrews tells us to leave the doctrine of the first principles of Christ and press on to perfection (Heb. 6:1). Don’t confuse the words perfect and perfection to mean without fault, flaw or blemish as used in Matthew 5:48 and Hebrews 6:1. In both instances the words are in reference to maturing as a child of God. I have come to the conclusion that the best way I can say this is simply this, Grow Up, don’t stay at the edge of the baptistry after coming forth a new creature in Christ. Don’t be a babe in Christ all your life.
In some ways the Hebrew writer speaks of those who ought to be teachers, they had been taught the first principles but they did not retain them in their heart, they did not actively put them into practice and now need someone to teach them again. They have a need for milk, not solid food (Heb. 5:12-14). From the moment we come forth from the watery grave of baptism as new creatures in Christ, we should strive to grow into maturity as a child of God. That maturity is only going to be accomplished by growing in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:14-18)
How do you grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord? I must say that this growth does not come from attending just one service of the Lord’s church on Sunday morning and listening to a preacher for about forty minutes. It comes from diligently feeding on God’s word. It begins with the first principles but we must grow out of that stage. We must go from focusing on what must I do to be saved to focusing on what must I do to keep saved. 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us to be diligent to present ourselves a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. The only way to accurately handle the word of truth is to know it and we will only know the truth if we feed on the truth by spending quality time in study of it.
Striving for perfection, being perfect spiritually, we will be rooted in Christ and have solid convictions upon which we stand. We will not be carried about by every little doctrine men come up with. With strong convictions, people who know and see us will know what we believe, where we stand and why we stand where we do spiritually (1 Peter 3:15).
It goes without saying that Matthew 5:48 and Hebrews 6:1 set before us a tremendous goal. These passages challenge us to be all that we can be in the kingdom of God. And if we are going to be all that we can be, if we are truly striving for perfection, seeking to be perfect spiritually, it will require that we diligently follow Peter’s instructions found in 2 Peter 1:2-11: add to your faith moral excellence, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love.
We all know that in the fleshly sense, we will never be perfect, try as hard as we might, it just will not happen. But in the spiritual sense, it is a different story. Now for the big question: are we pressing on to perfection spiritually, are we perfect in the biblical sense (2 Peter 3:14)? If we cannot answer yes to this question then it’s on to page 2 and that will not be pretty. For what it's worth, all this is just how one old man feels about the challenge of Matt. 5:48 and Heb. 6:1.
Charles Hicks, Gallatin Tennessee
