Matthew 5:48
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
This past Tuesday night I spoke to a small gathering of college students here at the church. I’ll spare you the details of my talk, but as I began to try and apply an application to my message, I just blurted out, “If you want to be more genuine as a believer, then you really just need to be more like Jesus!”
Can it really be that simple?
The application statement for every single sermon ever preached could be, “Be Like Jesus!” In fact, if I had to offer advice for anything (not that anyone has asked for it) but my advice would be to “Be Like Jesus!” I’m going to go rewrite every speech, sermon, or motivational talk I’ve ever given and make sure I finish with the exhortation to, “Be Like Jesus!”
It’s simple yet also profound. I find it frustrating knowing that the answer to all of my life’s problems is to Be Like Jesus, yet being like Jesus has eluded me most of my life. Matthew 5:48 is a great goal, but I’ll never truly meet it. But I don’t take discouragement from the fact that I’ll never genuinely Be Like Jesus, I take encouragement that Jesus was so perfect that because of His perfection I don’t have to be.
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