Be Ye Therefore Perfect

Matthew 5:48 says, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” I read this scripture when I was younger and I thought that this was impossible. I’m human, so I am inherently imperfect. But I really want to return to live with Heavenly Father, so how do I do that if I’m not perfect? There’s no way! Well, Jesus Christ gives us the answer in his Sermon on the Mount.

He begins the Sermon with the Beatitudes. A lot of times when I read this I just thought it was really repetitive. Those who do this will get this. But it’s really Christ asking us to do certain things and to gain certain qualities. I never really understood the meaning behind them until today.

Christ starts out in verse three of chapter 5 by saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Poor in spirit means to humble, or poor in pride. He asks us to mourn with those that mourn, or be empathetic towards others, and to be meek or humble. Then he asks us to seek after righteousness and be merciful. He asks us to be pure in heart and to be peacemakers. We can apply this to ourselves. Christ wants us to humble ourselves and feel sorry for the sins we have committed. Then He wants us to humble ourselves again and come unto him and live His gospel. He asks us to be kind towards others and help them as they come unto Christ.

Then he concludes the beatitudes with verse 10 which says, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Both the beginning and the end say, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” By doing this, Christ showed that this is a progression and a cycle. We must 

constantly be doing all of these things in order to return to live with Heavenly Father.

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ knew that it would be impossible for us to be perfect. But that’s why we have the gospel. By living the gospel and following Christ’s example, we can get closer and closer to perfection and live with Heavenly Father again.