Episode 44 seeks to provide some basic answers the important question, “How do we attain divine perfection?” It concludes with the good news that this great goal is attainable and is our final destiny.

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Transcript
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I Am a Son of God
How Do We Become More Perfect? (Ep 44)
 

We begin our quest for perfection by choosing and doing God’s will. The Father is perfect in all His ways; we are imperfect in all our ways. We cannot undertake to be perfect in every way all at once. What are the most important areas that we should we focus on as we begin this great quest? Our free will is our greatest power, and we approach God by the exercise of this power, by choosing to align our personal will with His divine will, as expressed in Jesus’ prayer, “your will be done.” (Mt 6:10) We must learn to make this choice throughout our lives, especially in times of great decision. The more we do this, the greater will be our habit-forming certainty that we will choose to take the Father’s way, no matter the situation. In making and consistently executing this choice-decision we are well on our way to attaining the high goal of divine perfection that the Father has set for us.

Love for God. Love identifies the volitional will of God, and His inner spirit ever directs us in the way of altruism–thoughtfulness of others. We should remember that Jesus identified the commandment to love God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves as the greatest commandments in the Jewish scriptures. We express our love for God by our service to God, and by our worship. In God we live, move, and have our being. The only power that is truly our own is our free will. Our highest worship and the greatest gift we may give to God is the reverent dedication of own will to the doing of the Father’s will, to wholeheartedly affirm, “Not my will, but yours, be done.” (Lk 22:42)

Love others. We are commanded not only to love God, but also to love others. Love is the desire to do good to others. As we seek perfection in our love of others, we realize that we cannot love everyone all at once, but we can seek to love more and more individuals, day by day.

Service. In our quest for perfection, we must remember that Jesus taught us to both love and serve others. Those whom we love we will voluntarily serve. Jesus taught that, “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your minister.” (Mt 20:25-28) Jesus’ religion is a religion of loving service. In our efforts to become perfect we do well to follow the Master’s example and seek perfection in loving and serving both God and our fellow man.

“Love one another even as I have loved you.” At the last supper Jesus issued a new commandment to his apostles and followers; he said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another even as I have loved you.” (Jn 13:34) Jesus loves us with both a fatherly affection and a brotherly affection. As “the Son of God” Jesus loves us with a fatherly affection: as the “Son of man” he loves us as an elder brother.

Fatherly love. In issuing this new commandment Jesus is instructing us to love others not only with a brotherly love but also with a fatherly love. A fatherly love can attain levels of love and devotion that immeasurably transcend a brotherly love. For example, a loving parent has little difficulty in forgiving his child even many times.

The reactions of a fatherly love. Jesus discussed some of the reactions of a fatherly love in the beatitudes. Fatherly love is sympathetic, tenderhearted, merciful, sensitive, and responsive to human need. Fatherly love integrates personality and is the cure for distrust and suspicion. It endures persecutions and promotes a peace that prevents ruinous conflicts. In the face of trials and persecutions Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you” (Jn 14:27) and “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (Jn 14:27) Fatherly love delights in returning good for evil–doing good in retaliation for injustice. Fatherly love has singleness of purpose, and it always looks for the best in others; that is the attitude of a true parent. In issuing this new commandment Jesus is directing his followers to begin to look upon others as God looks upon His children, as a true and loving father looks upon his children. He is commanding His apostles and followers to show forth the beginnings of a fatherly affection for all His children.

Attain growing self-control leading to self-mastery. To grow more perfect requires that we attain more and more self-control. To choose and follow God’s will, we must gain sufficient control over ourselves to consistently choose God’s will and faithfully execute that will–especially in testing times when our natural impulse is to follow our own personal desire. We are born imperfect and this necessity for developing self-control is a requirement in all our worthy efforts to become more perfect. Self-control involves perfecting our emotional control and the mastery of all bodily desires. As we grow in self-control, we increasingly develop the higher ability to exercise genuine self-restraint. And with further growth we reach the highest and most perfect level of self-control–true self-mastery.

Righteousness. Jesus directed his followers to, “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Mt 6:33; my italics) He also taught in the beatitudes, “Happy are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (Mt 5:3) In our earthly life we are called to perfect our souls. We need to cleanse ourselves of all evils of mind and body and seek perfection of personality motivation. The perfect answer as to what we should do in any situation is always, “Do what is right.” And what is always right is to choose and do the Father’s will.

Perfect our body, mind, and spirit. To attain a perfection like God means to perfect all aspects of our personality, body, mind, and spirit. When the Jews asked Jesus for a sign, he said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (Jn 2:20) The Jews thought he was referring to the temple at Jerusalem. “But He spoke of the temple of his body.” (Jn 2:21) Jesus, in referring his body as “the temple of the soul” is telling us that our body is important and our part is to take care of it, to maintain clean and healthy habits, and to keep it in as perfect health and condition as possible. On the level of mind, we should aim to ever expand our minds, grow in wisdom, and seek to comprehend higher and higher levels of true universe meanings. Throughout our lives we should pursue continuous advancement in self-understanding and true self-realization. In spirit, our part is to seek to gain higher and higher levels of spiritual values. Our lives should be dedicated to the search for God and the effort to attain ever higher levels of God-consciousness.

Conclusion. The Father has commanded us to be perfect even as He is perfect. The effort to attain this goal is a long, difficult, and arduous task. The false notion that we will awaken in heaven as fully perfected beings is far from the truth. In our life here on earth we are only beginning an age long process; we will continue this quest in our advancing life in heaven. We must clearly realize that every advancement in perfection we make requires our personal action in partnership with God; we must exercise will-choice in every act that advances us in God’s way. But we may be comforted by the realization that the Father would not require that His children reach this transcendent goal without also providing the pattern and pathway to attain it. His indwelling Spirit directs us from within and Jesus’s ideal life example of doing God’s will provides us the pattern from without. Thus, we may rejoice in the knowledge that if we sincerely choose and follow God’ will divine perfection is our sure and final destiny.

 

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