Perfection Costs Everything 

A message for Christians. 

     Twenty years ago, columnist Andree Seu Peterson was shopping when she heard a voice, "Be ye perfect." She knew it was God and explained why. "Jesus means what He says," she writes, - Matthew 5:48. In other words, do your best. 

     She writes, "Jesus instructed His disciples, 'Do not love only your friends. Love your enemies. Be perfect - not doing the bare minimum.' She explains imperfect. Someone hardening their heart. Someone who brings God's commands down to their level rather than raising one's level of obedience to His commands. 

     "People go 'this far and no farther.' They may get to heaven, but dragging wood, hay and stubble, rather than gold. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him - Psalm 25:14. Those who love Jesus and want more of Him - more knowledge, more intimacy, more growth - there is a price. Go all the way in obedience. 

     "In both the Old and New Testaments: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts - Psalm 95:7 ... Hebrews 3:15.' The Spirit is always in our hearts, but we can muffle His voice. Paul also warned against halfway Christian living: "But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, infants in Christ. - 1 Corinthians 3:1-3." 

     "Be ye perfect is another way of Jesus saying, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength.'" 

     Dietrich Bonhoeffer, killed by the Nazis, put it, 'When Christ calls a man, he bids him to crucify the flesh." How does Christ know the hurt? Because He also crucified His flesh."

       PS. When our bodies die, our heart, soul and mind will live on.