Phillips drew from the writings of C.S. Lewis and George MacDonald in the writing of this book, and he devotes two chapters to expounding on the meaning of Matthew 5:48 -- "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (NASB)
I don't know about you, but I have always thought that although this is a command Jesus gave, that is was unattainable -- because I was thinking about my behavior and circumstances. How am I supposed to be perfect in this life, living in this sinful world? The insights I read in this little book were enlightening...
I'm going to try and summarize what he said in the book, but I will include a few quotes too, because I just can't say it as well as he did.
The character in the story is trying to understand what Jesus meant when He said, "Be perfect," and his guide in the garden tells him this:
"The Lord spoke neither naive nor idealistic injunctions. He gave only possible commands.
He expects us to become creatures that can and will obey Him in everything..
"Our Lord spoke not of sinlessness, but of the perfect act...not of perfection in the face of sin,
but of yielded abandonment of rule..
it was the yielded abandonment of self-rule that the Master modeled for us on the cross."
Jesus is our example -- we know this from Scripture -- and what He did in yielding His own will to the Father is something any man or woman can do as well. When we do this, give up our right to rule our own lives and live the way we want to, we allow our Heavenly Father's perfection to begin living in us. We begin to allow Him to shape us into what He wants us to be.
"God gave each of us a will, and that will becomes fully our own only when we offer it in loving sacrifice back to Him."
We will not be perfect in the endeavor to live selflessly, to surrender our will to God, and although this abandonment or yielding of our free will is what Phillips calls 'the perfect act,' on this earth it will never be a one-time event. We must continually, daily, moment by moment, surrender ourselves and our wills to God. And every time we do, we enter the realm of obedience to Jesus' seemingly impossible command.
Jesus Christ modeled this self-abandonment perfectly in Himself in order that we might be able to follow His example. And He has sent us the Holy Spirit, to live within us and help us beyond what our finite humanity is capable of doing. I like this quote from the book:
"The labor of the Son of God within the heart of every man and woman is for one purpose, to enable them to die as He died...to the rule of self."
God gave us the gift of being able to choose and think for ourselves, with a will that no one else can control unless we surrender it. But the most amazing thing about this gift is that we have the opportunity to yield this freedom, without force or manipulation, back into the hands of God and when we do, we find that He accomplishes greater things in and through us than we could ever have done if we fought to maintain control and power over our own lives!
Heavenly Father, once again I give You all that I am.
I surrender this day into Your hands, with all my desires, my plans, my hopes, my thoughts and my fears. I give You my will and choose to let You control my steps and guide me in the way that is pleasing to You.
Holy Spirit, please remind me that I am not my own when I am tempted to do things my way.
Lord Jesus, thank You for showing me the way and for making it possible - through Your death and resurrection - for me to be made perfect like You.
I long for the day when that perfection is realized, but in the meantime, please help me to remember that I have the choice and responsibility every day to yield myself to You and allow You to do the work You desire to complete in me.
In Your name, to the glory and praise of God, amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment