God tells us in His word to be perfect even as He is perfect (Matt. 5:48), so I guess that means we have to be perfect, right? Wrong. This perfection is the result, not the process. God knows we are sinners, saved by His grace alone (Eph. 2:8), but He also expects us to grow in our Christian walk.
Just as a child grows from infancy to toddlerhood and finally to adulthood, so we are to grow from salvation to perfection. The theological term is sanctification, and that is simply allowing God to work through us to bring us to spiritual maturity. We do not expect our children to have the skill or understanding beyond their maturity level, but we expect them to mature and acquire skills and knowledge.
It is the same with our Heavenly Father. Once we are born into His family, we are expected to be babes in the faith, longing for the pure milk of His Word (1 Pet. 2:2), but as we mature, we put aside childish things and begin to long for the meat of the word (Heb. 5:13-14). We want to dig deeper; we long to know the reason and the how behind the glorious promises He gave us.
Interestingly, the same Greek word is translated as perfect and mature. Those who are spiritually mature will be perfected in Christ Jesus. They will be complete in Him and have moral maturity and character. Yes, even wisdom and discernment. Just as a child moves from a tricycle to a bicycle to a car, so we should move from simply reading stories to understanding the character and flaws of the people in the Bible. We should learn from the lessons they learned so we do not have to repeat them.
A popular saying is, "Choose the hill you are willing to die on." In childishness or maturity, that hill will change. It is for the mature to help the children choose wisely.
The mature Christian will understand that even though we are all one family, we will have disagreements. Those disagreements should be broken into two categories - heaven or hell issues and everything else. If the dispute is based on eternal destiny - the Deity of Jesus, for example- it is a hill worth dying on. If it is not eternally based - the method of baptism, for example, then we should learn from each other and perhaps change our perspective or agree to disagree.
Heavenly Father,
Help me to maturity, guide my footsteps ever closer
to you and your will in my life.
Please help me give grace to those with whom I disagree and
the wisdom to know when I need to review and revise my understanding.
Thank you for bringing me closer to the perfection found in Jesus Christ,
In Christ alone,
Amen
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