There are NO Steps for you to be perfect. It is not happening. Truthfully no one is perfect but Jesus. As I was sitting in marriage class yesterday I zoned in on those words. I have heard it before, I knew that it was true, but at that moment that was all I could hear. Maybe I needed to be reminded of that. Matthew 5:48 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Of course I had to do some homework on the definition. I normally don't write when I look up Greek translations, but then I realized we study everything else we definitely need to get in the habit of studying God's word. I started thinking what does this word mean in the Greek, clearly God is not trying to tell us that we are perfect. I knew that was not the case. According to Strong's Concordance, "perfect" in the Greek is teleios (tel'-i-os) meaning complete in all its parts, full grown, of full age, completeness of Christian character.
Now I am no theologian or anything, but from this definition I gather we need to become more spiritually mature.
Babies don't stay babies, they do grow up. You can't eat baby food forever. Chew on that!
People will FAIL you. People will HURT you. Only you can control how you will respond. I have learned so much about offering people grace. Give people some leeway. I never really understood how to do that, but then I am reminded of all the times God forgives me and gives me grace I don't deserve. We always wan God to give us grace. There is nothing we can do to earn it either. How dare I not do the same for someone else?
I am reminded of Matthew 6: 15 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
These are some of the cliches I've heard that will not help us to forgive and show grace to others.
- I forgive and don't forget- this takes time but you can't continue to bring the offense up
- You hurt me once, but you won't hurt me twice-No we are not a doormat, but if we are genuinely being relational we will get hurt, or offended at times.
- I can't forgive that one
I have to seriously check myself when I want to justify why I shouldn't forgive. Sometimes I ask questions like " Why does this keep happening?" "You just don't understand God" That last question makes me laugh now. Yeah I am sure we have it so much harder than Jesus did. I mean have any of you been nailed to a cross lately? I am just saying. It really does put things in a different perspective.
There is no justification. Jesus forgives me for everything, even things people don't even know about. OUCH!!
There is no justification. Jesus forgives me for everything, even things people don't even know about. OUCH!!
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