Week 3 - Bearing Fruit: Character - Day 15 - Friday

Written by Kelly Dagley
Matthew 5:48 says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Think about that, “be perfect” as our heavenly Father is perfect. That is a lot to live up to. It helps to shed light on what Jesus is saying in this verse. To do that, look at the meaning of the phrase “be perfect” or esesthe teleios in the Greek. Esesthe means “you will be” and teleios means “unblemished.” It also means “mature.” Another translation of this phrase is “you will be mature as your heavenly Father is mature.” Jesus is using the future tense when speaking about us, and the present tense when speaking about our heavenly Father. We will be mature as God already is mature! I think it is also important that Jesus is not commanding us to immediately “be perfect.” The verb tense used is not one used for a command like he does when he commands his followers to “love your enemy” in Matthew 5:43. He is describing the process of maturing into being more like Him. We are to work toward becoming mature like God but he understands why we aren’t mature as God is in the present. I know I have felt this verse as a burden to “be perfect.” In reality, Jesus is describing what a mature Christian life is to look like; a life patterned after God, revealed in Jesus, himself.

Scripture:
• Philippians 1:6 and Matthew 5:48. Read these verses over a few times.

Reflection:
• What words or phrases stand out to you in the above verses? What might God be saying to you through them?

Practice:
• Reflect again on where you are in this process of creating the Masterpiece of your Character with God. Where do you see yourself in this process? What one are can thing about your character can you focus on? Develop a plan and practices that will help you intentionally partner with God in the character transformation process.