Complete...Whole...Perfect

~~~ 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 ~~~ Psalm 146 ~~~ Matthew 5:43-48 ~~~

 

So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

 

Matthew just sort of throws in this little verse for good measure.

If you are a believer then you might as well go all the way...

that is you might as well strive to be perfect.

Actually this is not what the writer meant.

 

In the ancient text perfect meant to be whole...to be complete.

It is only in Christ that we can come close to being perfect.

We can only reach this state of wholeness

when we are united with Jesus in heaven.

For now it is our daily task.

It is compounded by the fact that most of us do not realize

ourselves as being less than complete.

 

We do not view ourselves in the deficit column.

Most of the time we are half of what we could be;

certainly not perfect.

We have been offered something great to strive toward.

 

We do not love completely.

We do not give completely.

We do not forgive completely.

 

What is whole and complete in our lives?

The truth is nothing.

What a disappointment...to not have one whole thing in our life.

 

 

The closest we can come in this world to perfection

 is when we remove the focus from our self.

When we are no longer infatuated with ourselves;

then we come closer to being whole...perfect.

It sounds like a contradiction but it is the truth.

We cannot be complete until we go outside of ourselves...

until we look to those around us who are in need.

 

Every person we come in contact with

is in need of something that we can offer.

You are in each others life for a reason...to bring one another

 closer to wholeness; that is perfection.

 

Jesus came down to live among us

...he became poor although he was rich,
so that by his poverty you might become rich.

 

Jesus shows us what it means to be complete...whole...perfect.

He clothed himself with our fragile human form.

Through this supreme sacrifice he brought to perfection the will of the Father.

He made it possible for us to once again be whole and complete...

to enter into everlasting life with him in heaven.

 

The depth of our relationship with God

will be fleshed out in the wholeness of who we become.

Unless we have this God relationship

we can never be complete,

whole or perfect.

 

Work on this relationship with God and you will be

on your way to becoming perfect.

The more we come to realize how much God loves us

the more we will be able to love others.

Blessings of wholeness

stream down from the perfection of God.