…be perfect, just as your
Father in heaven is perfect. —Matthew 5:48
{CHAMBERS} “Our Lord’s
exhortation to us in Matthew 5:38-48 is to be generous in our
behavior toward everyone. Beware of living according to your natural affections
in your spiritual life. Everyone has natural affections— some people we like
and others we don’t like. […] God will give you plenty of real life opportunities
to prove whether or not you are “perfect, just as your Father in heaven is
perfect.” Being a disciple means deliberately identifying yourself with God’s
interests in other people. […] The true expression of Christian character is
not in good-doing, but in God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed
you within, you will exhibit divine characteristics in your life, not just good
human characteristics. God’s life in us expresses itself as God’s life, not as
human life trying to be godly. The secret of a Christian’s life is that the
supernatural becomes natural in him as a result of the grace of God, and the
experience of this becomes evident in the practical, everyday details of life,
not in times of intimate fellowship with God.”
{ELGIN} When the rich young
man approached Jesus (Mark 10:17-22) I think the man was certain that he had done everything
right. He had not murdered anyone, not committed
adultery, not stolen, had not born false witness, not defrauded, and had honored
his father and mother. But Jesus told him there was something that he lacked
and then told him to sell everything and give it to the poor. You see, God looks at the heart of man, man
looks at the deeds of man. God wants our
total devotion (Matthew 22:37), man
is satisfied with a form of godliness.
We think that the answer is in the “DO-ing”, when the answer is really
in the “Be-ing”. The young man went away
sad because what he offered Jesus as proof that he should be given eternal life
was a not good enough. Jesus asked for
the very thing that the man loved more than God – money and possession. The man had it backwards.
Doing good does not result in being
good. Being good results in doing
good. James wrote that faith without producing
works is dead (James 2:17) Because of our faith, the fruit of the Spirit
(Galatians 5:22-23) should be
evident in us. Good works are a natural
result of true faith. Not the other way
around. True faith is not a result of good
works. (Ephesians 2:8) “We are saved
by grace through faith, not of works.”
The young man was doing the right thing for the wrong reason. King David said “Create in me a clean heart
and renew a right spirit within me. …. For you will not delight in sacrifice,
or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you
will not despise.” (Psalm 51) Is there something in your heart that demands
your devotion above God? Something that
you trust in more than the One who is trust worthy. Our redeemer is faithful and true and is
deserving of our total devotion. Take some
time to examine your heart … let the Holy Spirit search in those locked closets
and clean them out. Fulfill the purpose
for which you were created and saved. Bringing
glory to God begins with a heart totally devoted to Him.
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