"Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48).
Now of course, God doesn't expect us to be perfect. After all, there was only one person who ever walked this earth who was indeed, perfect. His name was Jesus.
So, why, if it is impossible while still in our fleshly bodies to be "perfect," does this particular scripture verse exist? Because even though God knows we can never be absolutely 100% perfect, He would like for us to try our best to be more like His Son, Jesus. Is it possible, if you truly believe in Jesus, to do and be better as a person? I and many others are living proof that it is. I may have been tossed around by gale force winds a few times in my life, but Jesus held my hand and walked me through it all. Each time, my faith in Him grew stronger.
But again, this perfect stuff? I believe God looks at every brand new believer as a "diamond in the rough." A diamond is usually found inside of a rock like the rocks that come out of mines, etc. In their uncut state, they look more like a rock. The jeweler takes the rock apart, removing the rocky parts from the stone, which is very much like what God does with us when He "prunes" us like a rose bush. Just like the jeweler takes the ugly rock that formed around the brilliant stone and discards it, keeping the beautiful part, God prunes the parts of our lives that are hurting us and Him as He watches us struggle. There are things we are still doing as Christians that He needs to remove from us, but that only happens when we truly study His word, commit those words to memory, write them on our hearts, etc., and then live by them, the best we can, every day of our lives.
God will work on you until the day that He calls you home! One thing of comfort I can tell you though? Being that we are diamonds in the rough, it should give us confidence that God is going to be there to help us be better as people, which is Christ working through us. The closer to being like Christ that we are? The more flawless we become!
Jesus took this horrible looking rock (me) and is in the long process of turning me into a beautiful, flawless diamond. Now if you know anything about precious stones, you know there is no such thing as a "flawless diamond." Only lab created stones are flawless.
They aren't the real thing. But Jesus and the work He is doing in us, most certainly is!
Now of course, God doesn't expect us to be perfect. After all, there was only one person who ever walked this earth who was indeed, perfect. His name was Jesus.
So, why, if it is impossible while still in our fleshly bodies to be "perfect," does this particular scripture verse exist? Because even though God knows we can never be absolutely 100% perfect, He would like for us to try our best to be more like His Son, Jesus. Is it possible, if you truly believe in Jesus, to do and be better as a person? I and many others are living proof that it is. I may have been tossed around by gale force winds a few times in my life, but Jesus held my hand and walked me through it all. Each time, my faith in Him grew stronger.
But again, this perfect stuff? I believe God looks at every brand new believer as a "diamond in the rough." A diamond is usually found inside of a rock like the rocks that come out of mines, etc. In their uncut state, they look more like a rock. The jeweler takes the rock apart, removing the rocky parts from the stone, which is very much like what God does with us when He "prunes" us like a rose bush. Just like the jeweler takes the ugly rock that formed around the brilliant stone and discards it, keeping the beautiful part, God prunes the parts of our lives that are hurting us and Him as He watches us struggle. There are things we are still doing as Christians that He needs to remove from us, but that only happens when we truly study His word, commit those words to memory, write them on our hearts, etc., and then live by them, the best we can, every day of our lives.
God will work on you until the day that He calls you home! One thing of comfort I can tell you though? Being that we are diamonds in the rough, it should give us confidence that God is going to be there to help us be better as people, which is Christ working through us. The closer to being like Christ that we are? The more flawless we become!
Jesus took this horrible looking rock (me) and is in the long process of turning me into a beautiful, flawless diamond. Now if you know anything about precious stones, you know there is no such thing as a "flawless diamond." Only lab created stones are flawless.
They aren't the real thing. But Jesus and the work He is doing in us, most certainly is!
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