Episode 43 reveals the Father’s supreme mandate to humanity. It discusses both our great human imperfection and God’s help in our quest to attain divine perfection.

—
Transcript
—

I Am a Son of God
16. The Father’s Supreme Mandate (Ep 43)
“Be you perfect, even as I am perfect.” In Jesus’ great Sermon on the Mount, he revealed to his apostles the Father’s supreme mandate to struggling humanity, “Be you therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48) This divine injunction to strive for the attainment of the perfection of divinity is the first duty and should be the highest ambition of all His sons and daughters on earth. Our transcendent goal in our earthly life is to find God, comprehend His divine nature, and recognize His indwelling presence. To reach this goal, to approach God and attain oneness with his Spirit, requires that we become more and more like God. Thus, the quest for God is also the quest to become perfect, even as He is perfect. We must recognize that we may approach our heavenly Father only in so far as we have become perfect like Him.

Human imperfection. Our first step in undertaking this quest is to clearly recognize our great imperfection in comparison with the Father’s infinite perfection. We are finite mortal creatures, just beginning the great adventure of the progressive climb upward and inward to find God. We must realize that we are human and mortal creatures, only one step above the higher animals; in fact, we are the lowest level creature who is blessed with the ability to know and worship God. We begin at the very bottom level of living existence. We are weak, fallible, and subject to the temptations of evil and sin. We must begin in true humility, clearly understanding the vast gap between our human imperfection and our high goal of divine perfection.

“Be you perfect.” The first part of this divine injunction is “Be you perfect.” Since we are quite imperfect and cannot instantly become perfect, this command amounts to a divine directive to grow more and more perfect throughout our lives.  The Father has bestowed upon us His great gift of free will personality, the ability to make moral and spiritual decisions. With our free will we may choose to obey God’s directive to seek His perfection. And who of us does not wish to follow this invitation–command, to improve ourselves, to become better than we are? There is a popular affirmation that clearly pictures this ambition to attain greater and greater perfection; it goes like this, “Every day, in every way, am getting better and better.” So, the first part of the Father’s command is to not stand still in our growth and development. It is to progressively develop a more and more perfect personality along the lines of the Father’s perfect personality.

God commands us to be perfect in our human sphere as He is in His sphere of infinity and eternity. We also need to realize that it is OK to be imperfect; after all this is the way God created us. We must live as imperfect beings throughout the long, long climb to attaining divine perfection. It is also important to understand that the goal God has set for us is to be perfect in our finite human sphere as He is perfect in His paradise perfection of personality. We are not God; we are His mortal sons and daughters. We are commanded to seek a perfection like that of our Father; however, the perfection we seek is on a limited, finite, and mortal plane in comparison with God’s sphere of infinity and eternity. Our part is not to bemoan our great imperfection, but to resolutely undertake the great adventure of becoming more and more perfect copies of God’s infinite personality. We must also realize that we cannot stand still in God’s kingdom; He requires us to make continuous progress, to grow day by day in our ascent from human imperfection to our goal of divine perfection.

The quest for divine perfection is long and difficult. In the last line of Spinoza’s classic work, The Ethics, the great philosopher observed that “all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.” And this is certainly true of our quest for perfection. The way to attaining God’s perfection is indeed long and difficult. In undertaking this quest, we must realize that our path will not be easy. Manifold difficulties and obstacles must be met and overcome in the long, long effort to attain the perfection of God on paradise. This is a quest that we begin on earth and that will continue throughout an age as we progressively grow more perfect in our heavenly ascent. The spiritualization of our souls requires direct experience in solving a wide range of problems. Lower forms of life such as humans do not progress favorably in environmental ease. Difficult and problematic situations calling for the exertion of will–choice and righteous action conspire to produce those activities of mind, soul, and spirit that advance us in the way of higher perfection. We should understand that it is in and through our experience of reacting to demanding situations that we progressively grow ever more perfect.

How do we undertake the study and effort to attain divine perfection? This great adventure of advancing from imperfection, upward and inward, to divine perfection should be our supreme study. As we decide to commit ourselves to follow the Father’s mandate to “Be perfect even as I am perfect,” what path should we follow? This goal the Father has set for us is so great, and so far, far away from our present human status that we must realize that He would not have commanded perfection without also providing us with the means to attain that perfection. And indeed, He has provided us with both inner and outer guidance to show us the way. In our inner world He has sent His spirit to live within our heart and soul and guide us as to the right path to follow. By meditation, prayer, thanksgiving, and worship, we make contact with His indwelling Spirit who ever directs us in God’s way, the way of perfection. On the outer level He has sent His divine son, Jesus, to make clear the way to paradise. Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life.” In his bestowal Jesus provided us with the divine pattern for attaining the perfection that God wills for us. His life and teachings provide us with the pattern for developing a perfected personality. So, we may confidently undertake this great quest by choosing to follow God’s will as it is revealed to us by His inner spirit and by committing ourselves to obey Jesus’ supreme requirement to “follow me.” (Mt 4:19 & 9:9, Jn 1:43 & 21:22)

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download