In the middle of His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes a startling statement. “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, Matthew 5:48.” Jesus is most likely attempting to do one of two things. First, as Matthew addresses a Jewish audience, Jesus is trying to reveal to the Jews in this crowd of people that this is impossible to do. Thereby convicting the audience of any thought that anyone of them would be capable of following the Torah perfectly.
On the other hand, Jesus knew that no one listening would be mentally or physically able to accomplish such a task. Thus it is possible that Jesus is simply trying to say to a mostly illiterate audience, try your very best each and every day, then trust that God will do the rest. In the movie Facing the Giants, there is a similar message in the Death Crawl Scene. The leader of the team had given up on the season, allowing a losing mentally to possess his teammates. The head coach uses the Death Crawl as a teachable moment to see what someone is capable of when they do their very best.
As I reflect upon the last 6 months of my life, there are many things that distract me from doing my very best. Watching sports and the television in general can suck you in each night, causing me to lose focus of what’s really important in life. Idle time as well as resting after a long day’s work is nice, but can become contagious if you allow you body to stop moving as soon as you get home. Finally, the one things that prevents many people from even trying new adventures, careers or things is a lack of confidence. Failure often breeds a losing mindset. However, in Christ, Philippians 4:13, anything and everything is possible. Therefore, tomorrow morning when you wake up, try your very best and allow God to do the rest.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 