Perfect Like Jesus

The perfect girl with perfect hair in the perfect house with the perfect man in the perfect car drives to the perfect destination to enjoy the perfect meal. We live in a ‘lets get it perfect’ world which glorifies everything beautiful, exquisite, flawless and pristine.

My word for the day was PERFECT as I had read verses from Matthew 5 that morning. (Having a word to carry in my heart takes me back to my verse of the day as I do everyday life.)

‘Be perfect like your Heavenly Father is perfect’ says Jesus in the very last verse of Matthew 5. This is an important hinge in the chapters we call The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ kind of perfect was so very different from the ‘perfect’ defined by the world. Jesus not only described it, he modeled it for us.

Here are Jesus’s words describing ‘perfect’:

Don't resist violence! If you are slapped on one cheek, turn the other too.

-Matthew 5:39

Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.

-Matthew 5:44

You remember the bracelet with WWJD (what would Jesus do?) which went around a few years back? I tweaked it and asked myself WDJD? What did Jesus Do? How did he live out ‘perfect’ when on earth? How did Jesus walk the walk?

As you read this maybe you are reminded of a friend who turned her back on you, a parent who walked away when you wanted them to stand with you or a colleague or teacher who insulted and humiliated you. Jesus understands and knows exactly how you feel. God gives us grace to go above and beyond as his children. 

Let us allow him to work in our hearts and help us not to retaliate, but instead to love and pray for our enemies and entrust the situation to God.

God's divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.

2 Peter 1:3

May we draw on that divine power today!

Pastor and evangelist J. John says that he calls his parents each week, prays for them, and honors them, though they treated him badly, and do not accept his family or approve of his vocation.

Gladys Staines, a missionary wife, served, loved, and forgave the very people who burned and killed her husband and young sons in India.

Let's be girls who ask WDJD and do it too! Maybe ‘perfect’ could be your word for today! Where and to whom can you and I be Jesus’ kind of perfect today?