by Naomi Moon

Perfect and Complete

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link.

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5:48 English Standard Version

Some read this verse and feel the weight of our imperfections. I know I am not perfect, how can I ever live up to the standard that God has set? This text follows the Sermon on the Mount, which lays out how this new life in Christ is to look and how God’s people are to act. But, think back to Adam at the beginning of the world when God made everything good. Even Adam could not live up to the expectations set before him. 

Through changing our behaviors to follow the laws of God, we are being perfected by his goodness. This verse of Matthew implies more than just being perfect morally, but this word for perfect also implies the concept of completeness. We are being made whole again by following the laws of God and in the footsteps of Jesus. The only one who can truly be perfect before God is Christ, who stands confidently before God on our behalf. 

I was waiting in eager anticipation for this orchid to come into full bloom. It finally bloomed all of its flowers on none other than Easter morning. It rang in my head that this is a glimpse of what the resurrection brings. Fullness. Completeness. Perfection. In Christ, through his death and resurrection, we are made whole, complete, and perfect again before God. We wait in this time of eager anticipation. We have heard the news of Jesus’ resurrection, but we are still waiting for the completeness of his return again. We will see Christ in his fullness, like this orchid is a glimpse of the fullness of the beauty in Creation.

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado