“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48
It was time to change our LED Church sign. I try to update it with at least 12 different messages every week to 10 days. Coming up with what to put on the sign takes some time, but is ALWAYS a blessing. It’s also a spiritual journey, as I read my Bible and look up visual images that will match a particular thought. When I saw THIS verse, I mentally cringed!
Typing the verse in I hit ‘images’ and got a HUGE cultural lesson. There on the screen were images of sayings from the world…and what people thought of the idea of being perfect. MANY had even autographed their own slogans…obviously proud of what they had come up with!
Here are some slogans I found as a rebuttal to God’s Word. “The goal isn’t to be perfect, just better.” “Strive for progress, not perfection.” “I don’t want to be perfect. I want to be a beast!” “To love yourself is to understand you don’t need to be perfect.” And, “You were born to be real. Not to be perfect.” And finally….”F… Perfect!” There were lots more, but you get the idea.
I found an old expired ticket to my kid’s Dance Recital from years ago. It’s a ticket! I guarantee that if I tried to use it to get into The Super Bowl…it wouldn’t work..and for MANY reasons. Jesus Christ made this statement in the Bible to describe the requirement to get into Heaven. And even though other people may disagree, God’s standards have never been lowered! If you want to go to heaven…BE PERFECT!
Sliding from my role as ‘Sign Guy’ to ‘Bible Teacher’ last night, I had a 12 question “True – False” quiz on statements from the Bible that dealt with what it takes to get to heaven and to clear the Judgment Throne. The highest score achieved was 6! It wasn’t because our folks don’t know HOW to get there. It’s because they know it so well…they forget how expensive the ticket COST.
Jesus Christ is the ONLY one who can get you into His Father’s Kingdom. He was and IS…Perfect. And to ANYONE who wants to join Him, He offers the opportunity to exchange places. Your sin for His perfection! His death was EXTREMELY expensive to God. Almost as much as your giving up YOUR life in exchange for His. But according to The Father, it is the ONLY PERFECT CHOICE!
So…. Are you?
