We don't live in a terribly confident age. We've almost come to expect that advances in research, learning, and technology in one area will result in problems and conflicts in another area. Thus Christ Jesus' statement, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," Matt. 5:48. may seem to some as little more than an echo from a distant, less sophisticated era. Or one might rationalize that Jesus' counsel was only intended to buttress flawed but well meaning efforts to do one's best under less than perfect conditions.
If Jesus had not been such a realist, we could almost settle for that kind of rationalization. But his life example shows that this question of perfection is down-to-earth, solid, unavoidable. He taught that the path of Christian and spiritual perfectibility is not beyond the reach of any earnest individual. There is no denying, however, that the perfection Jesus referred to and illustrated is gained only through strong experience and orderly growth.
It would be a mistake to think or hope that such experiences would be devoid of hard challenges, mistakes, self-sacrifice, and correction on our part. These struggles promote healing and develop steadfast love, more faithful Christian living, and a growing and precious knowledge of God as both Father and Mother. In short, Christianity means living in the context of a profound and wholly beneficial spiritual accountability.
