Be Thou Perfect.

Jesus said, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Who is perfect? There is only one who was without sin and it is Jesus. Can we be perfect? What does it mean to be perfect? How is being perfect attained?

Let us address first if we can be perfect. Would Jesus call us to something we cannot attain? This statement is said in the context of the beatitudes and of loving our enemies, similar to how God loves everyone before they come to Christ and afterwards. If we are not shooting for being perfect with God, what are we shooting for, mediocracy? It is a good excuse to say we are not perfect and it can also lead to passivity, and sloth, as far as reaching excellence.

We can only be perfect with God by God’s grace in Jesus Christ. We certainly don’t have the ability to do it without the power of God in and on our lives. As a Christian if we are always making excuses for our actions and thoughts, then we will not be moving toward this goal. Our culture wants to blame it on some psychological factor rather than taking responsibility for our own choices. These factors may have an influence but our actions are not pre-determined as some people in the psychological field adopt.

Stanley Jones in his book the song of Ascents which is his spiritual autobiography states (p.53) that when he experienced a great filling of the Holy Spirit said, “When he was with me in the conscious, it was conversion limited, for the subconscious was not redeemed, cowed and suppressed but not redeemed. Now the subconscious was redeemed.”

He also states (p.55), “So we say with the coming of the Holy Spirit (in greater fulness- this is my addition) both the conscious and subconscious minds are cleansed from sin and evil bents. This is eradication. But the driving urges, self, sex and the herd, are still there. Since they are part of you, you can’t get rid of them. Hence, they have to be suppressed, lest they try to climb back in dominance; this is suppression. So, eradication and suppression are still facts of the Christian life—eradication of sin and evil and suppression of natural urges.” Suppression of distorted natural urges.

What does Jesus mean by being perfect? Does it mean being without sin whatsoever? Some Christians like John Wesley and John Fletcher believed this and called it entire sanctification. It seems to me that entire sanctification is the goal to be without sin, and this is what we should be ever striving toward in the power and grace of God the Holy Spirit. However, on this side of heaven the best we can expect is to be perfectly in union with the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In Jesus pray for those who would be his disciples he said, “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:23). He also states in verse 21, “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” This union with God is a process and it truly involves forsaking all sin (big and small) to be in complete union with the Father, and do what he guides us to be and do.

If this is not our goal, we will allow little and much sin in our lives or will not be able to defeat sin. Mike Tyson said that it was out of character for him to bike off part of the ear of his opponent in the boxing match. We can make all kind of excuses to look good to others and ourselves. However, unless God the Holy Spirit is cleansing our subconscious what is down there will come bubbling up and therefore we must co-operate with God and put in our effort. Resolve and discipline are required along with God’s grace. We must place ourselves in position to receive from Him, not because of merit but because we desire God and his purposes. (Matthew 6:33)

How do we attain the perfection that Jesus wants for our live? Is it just a matter of passivity waiting for God to do it in us without any effort on our part? The devil would like to get you to this place of passivity. As Dallas Willard has said often, “Effort is required, but not to earn merit.” However, there are also wisdom on waiting on God’s timing.

If being perfect is not your goal you will not be as diligent in dealing with sin and in character formation in Christ. It is not psychological perfectionism that is focused on self, but being perfect and forsaking sin and walking in the way Jesus called us to walk in and by his grace and power. You can’t on your own, you can with God. Developing new habits and overcoming bad habits with new habits are also part of the process. In this process we must also avoid becoming overly scrupulous.

Jesus says “He is the way.” (John 14:6) Who is on the way with Jesus in His power and strength? Would you join Jesus on the way? Would you do it in the power of the Holy Spirit and with all of your strength in him and in yourself. (Mark 12:30).

By the way to enter heaven based on your own goodness as compared to others, you would need to be perfect and never having sinned. Since no one is in the category, all people trying to get to heaven based on their own goodness will find themselves according to the Bible in hell. We can only go to heaven in Jesus Christ who took our place on a cross to pay the penalty of our sin at great cost to God, to satisfy divine justice and rose from the dead to give us eternal life, rather than death. You can be saved from the wrath to come by calling upon the name of Jesus in repentance and faith. We enter the kingdom of God by being born again and we learn to live in the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)

Come to Jesus and he will give you the gift of fulness of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said,” Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11). Get in the place to receive from him. Seek him and he will find you and you will find full union with God here on earth as well as heaven. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Jesus calls us to be perfect in Him as distinct from being perfect in ourselves. When we focus on our union with God than everything else gets set in the right order and we find our identity fully in Christ no matter the circumstances. (Matthew 6:33) However, remember this is a process and does require our effort with God.