I think we've all read Matthew 5:48 many times:

"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

And typically when this passage is read in a class or discussion, one of two comments (or maybe both) is made:

1) God doesn't require us to be perfect, He just wants us to try as hard as we can to strive for it.

2) The idea of perfect here is not without sin, but rather gaining maturity.

And, while I think both of those have their own merit and help us to understand good solid spiritual principles and truths, I think the letter to the Hebrews sheds some interesting light on this verse.

Heb 12:22-24

"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel."

There are a lot of ideas worthy of consideration in that passage, but what I was reminded of tonight is the statement "spirits of righteous men MADE perfect". Righteous is a pretty good goal and way to be and live, and if God calls you righteous you're doing pretty well. But we have to be MADE perfect (and the same could be said for righteousness). We do not achieve perfection or righteousness on our own, but we are willingly brought into those things.

And that, in and of itself, is not an overly earth-shattering idea. But what it helps me to remember is that maturity and perfection are absolutely things I am to be striving for, but I am never reaching up to an uncaring, unsympathetic, unhelpful Father. I am striving for a measure of God's perfection, and as I do so He is constantly filling in the gaps so that I can achieve that goal which is ultimately His goal. And knowing that all I have to do is my part and that God will take care of the rest to me makes perfection seem so much more attainable.

Prayers needed?

J

May I recommend to you the practice of praising God for answered prayers? Okay, here goes:

Praise God for answered prayers. It's awesome, and it can be a tremendous boost to your faith to recognize just how much God is working in general, and how much He is working for / with you.

And answered prayers, especially when the answer is yes, really rock.

J

But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, "Do not be afraid any longer, only believe."

This statement of Jesus really struck me as I read this passage for the simple reason that this synagogue official had every occasion to say "Yeah, but Jesus . . .!!" He didn't come to Jesus as a man with a dinky little problem or a question to test Him; he came to Jesus with a daughter who was at the POINT OF DEATH. And I suspect that if I had been in his shoes that day, walked to find Jesus, walked with Him through the crowds and the healing, and finally heard the news that my daughter had died I would have felt overwhelmed.

Maybe I would have been angry at the crowds for the delay, or angry specifically at the woman who was healed for taking more of Jesus' time. Perhaps I would have been angry at Jesus Himself for not treating the situation with more urgency, for daring to speak words like "do not be afraid any longer, only believe" when I had just lost my daughter. I might have thought and felt a lot of things this day, but I'm confident that Jesus' message would still have been the same.

And that is why it's so powerful. Sometimes we get so worked up over what's going on in our life, and often times those things may be very serious issues with jobs, family, health, or whatever. Jesus' message doesn't minimize those anymore than it minimized the death of this man's daughter. It simply puts them in perspective. When we want to cry out "Yes God, but . . ." to a command, we need to remember these words. When we want to say "I know God, but . . . " to our calling, we need to remember these words. When we are tempted to claim an exception or strike out on our own path in confusion and frustration, we need to remember to "only believe".

God's plans and ways and will are bigger and better and higher than ours. And when things get hard, especially when we don't understand why or when or how God will work things out, we need to "cease striving, and know that He is God" to borrow some language from the Psalms. God doesn't need us to work things out for Him, or to worry about them until they're fixed. He needs us to just believe, and then to wait. And just like Jesus raised this man's daughter from the dead, He will SURELY cause all things to work together for good to them that fear the Lord. That is His promise, and it is just as faithful and true as the Lord our Rock and Redeemer.

Prayers needed?

J

Melissa and I apparently have a knack for running into Cowboy's players:

Jason Witten, Central Market, Southlake, TX
Troy Aikman (no kidding), Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo

And while you might think there's no possible way I could pull a spiritual point from that, my unusually tangential brain will accept that challenge.

Something that struck me on both of those occasions is a desire to go up, say hello, and shake their hand. I have NO idea why that's the case, except that I wanted to make a personal connection with someone who I know is famous and never expected to meet. I don't have any particular admiration for either of the above men except for their athletic ability, but I cannot describe to you how thrilled I would have been if Troy Aikman sought me out and told me to go out for a pass. Or if Jason Witten had told me to line up against him and had blocked me up and over the meat counter (where we bumped into him, and yes I really would have enjoyed that). There is something in me that desires a connection with someone more significant than myself.

And what I think is so fascinating in the gospels is observing how Jesus interacted with people. He could heal, He could feed, He could resurrect. He was WAAAAAAY bigger and better than anyone we can imagine. And so people sought Him out! They brought children to Him just so He could touch them and bless them. They brought the sick and lame and hungry. People just CAME to Jesus because He was a big deal. That's not all that different from our encounters with famous individuals today.

But what was SO unique about Jesus was how He sought those situations out. Neither Troy or Jason wanted any special attention. They were out with their families, and they just wanted to be left alone like normal people. They probably wouldn't have been rude if we'd spoken to them, but that's not what they sought out. And yet Jesus did JUST that. Sure, sometimes He went away by Himself, but so many times He WENT to the poor, helpless, sinful, neglected, and despised. He sought them out instead of just trying to blend in and be left alone.

And His encounters were greater than mine might have been with Aikman or Witten because there was something substantial to that meeting. I thought briefly last night about what I could possibly say to Troy Aikman, and about all I could come up with was "It's an honor to meet you. I enjoyed watching you play back in the day." I'm not a super Cowboys fan, so I'm sure others could have done better, but other than a funny story that wasn't going to have any lasting impact on either of us.

But when Jesus encountered people His DESIRE was not just for a superficial encounter with an iconic figure, but rather for a deeply personal, spiritual, and substantial event. He met people where they were, He taught them from what they knew, and He led them towards God. He didn't just want people to walk away saying "It sure was cool to meet that Jesus guy. He seemed really nice." He wanted people to be inspired spiritually to seek out God, to ponder important spiritual issues especially within their own hearts and lives, and to be a changed people. As we see in the "great commission", He wanted disciples first and foremost.

May our encounters with Jesus be substantial, and may our encounters with others reflect those same ideals and goals.

Prayers needed?

J

I suppose that for much of my "adult life" I've spent a lot of time considering things that I didn't get much exposure to (or that I didn't take to very well) as a young man. Ideas like grace, the Holy Spirit, etc. And one that has more recently become a profound part of my thinking is that of worship.

I will confess my ignorance on this topic, because I used to try and think of the distinction between worship and praise (and sometimes even thanks), and although I think those are distinct ideas in the scriptures to some extent, they are just so inseparable.

And one day I was counseled of the wisdom on worship to be found in Romans 12:1-2

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Such a simple and yet profound concept for us. The "therefore" is, in short, just how awesome, great, glorious, and excellent God and His ways are. And not just that He is all those things, but especially that those have been demonstrated towards us. And that calls for our worship.

That in and of itself is perhaps not as enlightening as the thoughts in verse 2. Our bodies are to be sacrifices, but how do they qualify for that? Well, we strive for perfection and holiness so that we will be acceptable sacrifices, as He says. And the manifestation of that is that we will be transformed into the likeness of God. This is the EXACT same word as is used in reference to Christ's "transfiguration" in the gospels, and I think that gives us a pretty good idea of what we're talking about. We are to be so like God that His light shines through us, that we test and thus find and demonstrate the will of God as good, acceptable, and perfect.

This has been such a helpful concept for me because it, in many ways, frees me from the ties to "what are the rules of worship". That is NOT to say that God does not want us to worship both in spirit and in truth, but it does drive home for me that God cares just as much (if not more) for what we do when we are not assembled together with other saints as when we are. God cares WHO we are, not just WHAT we do when we're "living in the bubble".

The worship of God is to so permeate every aspect of our lives that His glory is our focus, meditation, and foremost goal at every moment of every day of our lives.

Let me take just one case study of this that I was privileged to consider recently - the story of Nadab and Abihu. When we think of that story and consider the question "What was the problem?", we often offer the same response as with Uzzah "They broke God's law". And that's true and right. But what God points out in both of those passages (and even in the case of Moses striking the rock against God's command) is that He was to be regarded and treated as holy by those who would draw near to Him.

Did God care that they didn't obey? Absolutely! The implication seems to be - although not necessarily limited to this :) - that their disobedience was the manifestation of their lack of regard for Him as holy; but that seems to be the key point - God is holy, and we must regard AND treat Him that way.

So we don't just think about how best we can worship God when we come together as a local congregation, or just when we're in "spiritual situations", but rather how we may live our lives to His glory.

Prayers needed?

J