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Written by Beth Andrews for “Deeper Roots” @ https://dbethandrews.wordpress.com
Original post @ https://dbethandrews.wordpress.com/2024/09/20/perfect-me/
Perfect? Me?
Posted on September 20, 2024 by Beth Andrews
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
I’m trying. But I’ll never pull it off. I’ll never be perfect. I am too human, too flawed, too me. I am reminded of that painful truth every day. I’ll never reach that impossible measure. I might as well give up. Why would Jesus demand such a thing of me when He knows I can’t do it.
Because He is not telling me to be without fault, He is telling me to be complete. The word “perfect” in Greek is teleios, and it means to bring to an end, to finish, to be mature. (Honestly, I’m not even sure I can pull off mature.) Jesus used that word when He told the rich man to sell all he had and give it to the poor and follow Him (Matt. 19:21). Paul used it to say that we must put childishness behind us and be mature (1 Cor 14:20). James said that perfection comes from patience (sigh) (Jas 1:4). And John said that God’s love is perfect – complete and full (1 John 4:18).
Here’s the thing about our key verse in Matthew 5; it comes in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount – after the Beatitudes and the part about do not murder or commit adultery. It comes in the passage where Jesus said “Love your enemies” Oh.
He said “Do not resist an evil person . . . turn the other cheek . . . go the extra mile . . . give with no conditions. (vs. 38-42). He said, “Pray for those who persecute you, who despitefully use you.” (vs. 43-48). Be kind and gracious to those who stand against you. That, He said is what sons (and daughters) of the Father do. That is what perfect people do. That is what the Father has done for me and for you. That puts the whole idea of perfection in a new light, doesn’t it?
There are two times that Jesus used a word – teleo – that shares the same root meaning as teleios – both of these words come from the base meaning of “an end result or goal.” Twice Jesus said, “It is finished” – at the cross when the work of salvation was completed (John 19:30), and in Revelation 21:6 when the work of creation was completed. Finished. Done. Perfect.
I do want to perfect. But I can’t do that on my own. Thankfully, I don’t have to. Neither do you Beloved.
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