In Matthew 5:48, Jesus gives us all a compelling call to be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect. It’s one of those verses that we usually skip over, feeling like we can’t begin to tackle its meaning and depth. It’s unapproachable. So, is it something we’re responsible to, or not?
I remember when my daughter was learning to walk. As she was preparing to launch, she practiced around our sectional couch for days, if not weeks. On one particular day she decided to go solo. Being the good parents that we are, we helped her by placing her in the middle of the room. No props, nothing to hang on to, just her — her legs, a thick diaper, and the floor waiting to welcome her bottom when she fell. And fell she did.
I remember how I reacted, like any father would have. I picked her up, yelled at her, and told her that no child of mine was going to fall when learning to walk! If she wasn’t ready to walk, I told her to stay on all fours, crawling around until she could walk properly! You know that isn’t true. The truth is, we had a party as she took that first step. Once she fell, we were quick to pick her up, offering our hands to help her regain her balance, before launching out on another attempt. It wasn’t long before one step led to two, then five and six, until we wished she was crawling again.
Too often, we think of our faith journey like the first reaction portrayed above. We see God expecting us to have this all figured out, going from crawl to Olympic sprinter, impressing Him with our prowess when it comes to our faith. We read verses like Matthew 5:48, and this just validates our understanding of what it means to be in this relationship with God, when in reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
But in Matthew 5:48, Jesus isn’t using the word “perfect” the way we typically understand it. He uses the word “perfect” to mean “as you were designed to be.” In other words, “live as who you are supposed to be, just as God is as He is”. So, just as my daughter was created to walk, so we are designed to live as God created us to live. But that takes practice.
Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of this verse gives us this perspective. His Message translation of this verse says; “In a word, what I’m saying is, grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now act like it. Live out your God-created identity.”
Grow up. That’s easier said than done. Not sure how well that’s gone for you, but I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way. My daughter fell more than she walked at first, but she never stopped getting up. With every new step, we celebrated. We walked, and she would too.
In this journey we are on, practice shapes the position of our heart. I think we know that none of us will live with a sinless perfection — we heard our revival speaker say that a couple weeks ago. But that doesn’t mean we live bound by its curse. In this journey, none of us will ever fully understand what it means to live like Jesus, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t shaped by His Spirit. It’s a direction that has intention and purpose. We move toward Jesus, so we can be more like Him today than we were yesterday.
So with God’s help, let’s practice well, so we can live well.
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