Matthew 5:48 "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

So, we've got two main points for today's devotions.

Point #1: Be perfect. Like God is.

Yep, that's about it. In recent verses/weeks, we've been seeing the moral standards increasing in difficulty. Now, just in case someone can be self-deluded enough to think they can keep all the rules up 'til now, we've got just one more rule- be absolutely perfect, the same way God is. Don't ever do anything wrong. This kind of gets rid of loopholes- no "the Bible doesn't say I can't such-and-such;" is it perfect? Go for it. Not perfect? Can't do it.

This perfection, by the way, affects everything about an action- not just the action itself, but the motives, the thought process that went into it, the hesitation, the timing, ad infinitum. If every single detail of our lives isn't perfect, we've got work to do. Yeah, none of us have gotten there yet- we've all got loads of work to do. Better get crackin'.

Point #2: OK, this is going to take a small scholarly detour here. You've been warned- if you really don't like this kind of stuff, you're probably good with point one. Honestly, though, I don't think you'll mind what I'm about to present.

So, there are a ton of interpretations of the Sermon on the Mount. In these devotionals, I've been concentrating on one of them- the "Absolutist" interpretation. This interpretation basically holds that Jesus actually means what He seems to be saying. For example, in today's devotional, when He says "be perfect," He means, "be perfect."

Now, I happen to believe not only the "Absolutist" interpretation, but also the "Repentance" interpretation. That is, I believe that when God reveals "Law" to us, He isn't just letting us know what's right and wrong, but He's showing us that we are wrong. The fact that He's given us a Law means that when we are sinful- the natural outworking of our sinful natures- we will break it and have an objective way to know that we are sinful and in need of God to save us. Paul explains this wonderfully in Galatians, but I won't go real deep into it here. The main point is that whenever we sin, God wants us to think about how much we need Him.

So, two main things for us today:

#1: Do your best not to sin, to be like God.

#2: When you fail, and you will, terribly and miserably, remember what that means- that you need a huge amount of help from God, that He was under no obligation to give it to you, but that He did in the Person and Work of Christ on the Cross for you. Let that sink in, redouble your efforts to be like God, and keep on living.

-Christopher