A SUNDAY FOR ALL SAINTS

A CALLING TO BE PERFECT

1. A false calling : "You will be like God"! (Genesis 3,5). It wasn't wrong for Eve to want to be like God. To become more like God is humanity's highest goal; it is what we are supposed to do. Satan misled Eve concerning the right way to accomplish this goal; he told her that she could become more like God by defying God's authority, by taking God's place and deciding for herself what was best for her life. In effect, he hold her to become her own god.

2. The real calling: "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect". (Matthew 5,48). How can we be perfect?

- In character.  In this life we cannot be flawless, but we can aspirate to be as much like Christ as possible.

- In holiness. Like the Pharisees, we are to separate ourselves from the world's sinful values. But unlike the Pharisees, we are to be devoted to God's desires rather than our own, and carry His love and mercy into the world.

- In maturity. We can't achieve  Christlike character and holy living all at once, but we must grow towards maturity and wholeness. Just as we expect different behavior from a baby, a child, a teenager, and an adult, so God expects different behavior from us, depending on our stage of spiritual development.

- In love. We can seek to love others as completely as God loves us.

We can be perfect if our behavior is appropriate for our maturity level - perfect, yet with much room to grow. Our tendency to sin must never deter us from striving to be more like Christ. Christ calls all His disciples to excel, to rise above mediocrity, and to mature in every area, becoming  like Him. Those who strive to become perfect will one day be perfect, even as Christ is perfect (1 John 3,2)  (Zondervan, Application Study Bible, Michigan 1997)

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