THE VERSE
You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.~Matthew 5:48
THE THOUGHT
Chapter 5 of the Sermon on the Mount is about Jesus correctly interpreting the Old Testament. People had misunderstood parts of it, so he corrects them. "You have heard it said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,'" he says, "but I say to you..." Here at the end of chapter 5, He summarizes what God's commands are all about: "You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." God commands us to fulfill our created purpose as His image by completely reflecting the perfection of His character. We are to be holy, for He is holy. We are to love, for He is love. We must (emphasis on the imperative here) be perfect, for He is perfect.This command should produce two seemingly opposite reactions in us: despair and hope. Despair in ourselves, for nothing good dwells in us. If a high jump contestant has to jump over a bar a couple feet higher than he has ever jumped, it might be motivation to train extremely hard. But if the bar is ten miles high, he might as well quit the sport; it's hopeless. In the same way, God's command of perfection should lead us to despair in our hopeless condition. We need a Savior, or we are lost.
But the very fact that we need a Savior should also lead us to hope. For where we are weak, depraved, and sinful, Jesus Christ is mighty to save. He fulfilled all His Father's will perfectly, earning for us the perfect righteousness required by Matthew 5:48. His perfection is a gift of grace to us, and His Holy Spirit is working in all of us who are believers to act according to His will. And one day, when we see His face, His recreating work will be complete, and we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. What unending, amazing grace! John Newton was surely right when he said, "I am a great sinner, but Christ is a great Savior."
THE PRAYER
Dear God, When I see what You require of me, I know that I am lost if left to myself. There is no hope for me apart from what You do to save me. So I praise you with unceasing gratitude for doing what I could never do. You are mighty to save, for You have saved even such as I. Thank you, Jesus, for Your great grace.EXTENDED READING
Romans 7:13-25James 2:8-13
1 Peter 1:13-16
THE QUOTE
“Forgiveness is setting a prisoner free and then discovering the prisoner was you.” ~AnonymousTHROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Jeremiah 49Song of Songs 3
John 6:1-15
1 Peter 2:18-25
No comments:
Post a Comment