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The Price of Perfection "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matt.5:48) Jesus spoke these words to his disciples nearly two thousand years ago, and those gracious words of life come to us with the same sweetness and power as when He spoke to them. To us now comes the same inspiring exhortation urging us to draw near to God, to keep near, and above all to be like him. He points to God, the High and Lofty One, enthroned in Heaven, and says to us, "There is your Father, perfect, —be ye therefore perfect even as He is perfect." These words awake in us a strong desire to attain to some likeness to God. The very name of God conveys to us such a sense of purity that we are cleaner and better for the thought of him, and He is our Father if so be we have received his Spirit in our hearts. He is nearer, closer, dearer than the fondest earthly parent could ever be. Jesus says, "Be ye perfect even as YOUR FATHER:" What a glorious thought! The supreme Sovereign of the universe is OUR FATHER! Try to consider the perfection of our Father in Heaven. Our finite minds can but dimly comprehend the might, the majesty, and the power of God. Surely it is not to perfection in these things that we are exhorted to attain. Yet all these things are at work on our behalf assisting our weakness that we may attain to that which is attainable. What is attainable? "Be ye holy; for I am holy." (1 Pet.1:16) That is the word of God to us, or as Weymouth translates Matt.5:48, "You however are to be complete in goodness, as your Heavenly Father is complete." "Attain unto holiness," says the writer to the Hebrews, for just as it is impossible to please God without faith so it is impossible to see him without holiness. Holiness carries the thought of purity; heart purity, beauty in its most radiant form, the loveliest of all loveliness and this loveliness inspires us to devotion, to gratitude and imitation when we consider the love of God that prompted the giving of his Son for the life of the world: the mercy that forgives, the compassion with the weak, the infinite tenderness that heals and assists the feeble in faith and the forbearing comforting love "as one whom his mother comforteth." (Isa.66:13) It is this perfection that our Lord exhibited throughout his earthly life and we are to consider this perfection in the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. What we need to imitate is the love of God, his compassion, his forbearing mercy and his understanding love as we see them manifested in his dealings with mankind through the ages and as we see them revealed in Jesus. We need to absorb them into our natures by daily contact with him in meditation and prayer, to think of the love of God as we have known it, admired it and adored it in Jesus and to realise that this is perfection; the God‑like heart, the lovely life, the very end and crown of being, the standard we are exhorted to attain in Eph.2:10 and 2 Tim.4:8. So, a cry arises in the depths of our hearts, "O for a heart more like my God." "How can I attain perfection? Lord, show me the way!" If we truly aspire to the perfection of Heaven we must needs consider the greatest exponent of perfection who ever lived; we must take Jesus as pattern and example, teacher and guide. We must not be content with a few cursory glances or to take a lesson now and again. We must apply ourselves diligently to the task. No day should be allowed to pass without meditation upon the life of the Master. It involves earnest consideration, earnest prayer for grace to copy and attain the perfect heart and the loving life. No one has seen God to note and study his perfection, but Divine wisdom and love sent his Son who said, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9) and we can look upon him and learn. We can have our Master before us, beside us, within us, about us, giving us counsel, instruction, assistance and strength. Without him we must fail; with him we can do everything but fail! All the great men and women who have devoted their lives to the cause of Christ are a splendid source of help and inspiration. When we think of Paul and read of his struggles and conquests, his noble faith and lofty purpose we are inspired to follow him as he followed Christ, to join in his great quest for perfection and by grace win the crown as he. We can help and inspire each other. Our faith and noble determination can assist others who might faint. The light of our own enthusiasm can light a lamp in another heart. Be up and doing if we are seeking perfection with sincerity and have a deep rooted longing to be like Christ and be found in him. So shall we by grace and Almighty Power receive the crown of life—faultless, glorious, perfection. That perfection is attainable is proved by the word of our Master. He never exhorted us to strive after something beyond and not easy of attainment. We must not only long to possess the treasure, we must sell ALL to buy it, give all of this life in exchange for it. Are we prepared to do this? If one can say I know what it is to struggle, to weep, to be crucified with Christ, to rejoice with him is selfless service, then the crown is near; we are attaining, claiming, and possessing, slowly but surely, the perfection of our Father in Heaven. If on the other hand, we are knowing little of the pain of striving, if we are not being daily impoverished in self‑esteem, then the crown of perfection is but a mirage, a phantom, a mental myth. Jesus, who walked this way to show us the path to God and the ultimate glory of holiness was a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. The road of suffering was the way He took. The quest of perfection is a hazardous, costly quest. It calls for courage, zeal, determination, ardent devotion, generous love, and simple faith. It does not need temporal wealth, learning or natural abilities, for the most humble and ignoble may set out to win the prize and gain it providing they will pay perfection’s costly price. The secret of perfection lies in the passionate ardour for God and Christ that leads to a full self‑surrender; a giving of all in a full unquestioning faith and trust into the hand of God. The worldly critic looking on has counted such ardent souls fools, and indeed they are fools for Christ’s sake in giving up ambitions, friends, talents and treasures that they might obtain the pearl of great price. It is a glorious folly and a splendid unreasonableness that urges a consecrated heart to lay it’s all upon the altar of sacrifice and to suffer itself to be stripped of all self‑will that God may be glorified and the beauty of his Spirit may shine forth from the heart and life dedicated to do his will. It was the Holy Spirit of God abiding in Jesus that enabled him to manifest the perfection of God, for God gave not the Spirit by measure unto him. He gives to us according as we are able to receive, according to the measure of our faith. It is better to give him all at the beginning with happy generosity, accounting it as nothing, than to have him take it from us by many painful separations over many years of tardy spiritual growth. When we have reached this point his Spirit can fill our hearts and we can enjoy the sweetness of his presence, but his Spirit cannot dwell in any odd corner that we wish to spare, side by side with self‑will. The cry of all who aspire to the Father’s perfection should be— "Come and possess me whole, nor hence again remove, (Charles Wesley) BSH 16 Our lives, our all, every moment is sanctified to him and "the daily round, the common task, can furnish all we need to ask. Room to deny ourselves, a road to bring us daily nearer God." Is it not worth all, to be nothing in this life that we might know the transcendent joy of being transformed by the power of God into radiant perfection, fitted for eternal life in heaven and companionship with God and Christ? In the Apostle Paul we have the greatest example of an imperfect man giving his all for the perfection of heaven. It brought him at last to a prison cell, almost blind, feeble and in chains; his only possessions a few books and parchments and an old cloak. Almost friendless and alone he faced a martyr’s death, but he could say, "I have fought a good fight… henceforth there is laid up for me a crown." (2 Tim.4:7‑8) The crown was the thing for which he had paid his all, esteeming it only a light affliction. He had nothing, yet everything, for he had the conviction that the crown was his. Do we desire to have the same conviction? To some it is worthwhile, to others much. Let us say, "To me it is worth everything. I want my Father’s perfection, the perfection of Christ, the life of heaven, the fellowship of saints and angels for ever, and by the power and grace of God which avails for me through Christ I know I shall have it." "A thousand swords might cut you down GAF |
