Yesterday while driving, a squirrel ran out from the ditch and stuck it's head right under my tire. Yep. It is still laying there in the road. I felt so terrible. I hate any mistreatment of animals - even accidental.
So...wait. I killed a squirrel. This week, I also let people down that are important to me. I didn't change my sheets. (And a million other things!) That means I am not perfect. How on earth am I supposed do as Jesus commanded, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (NRSV) when it is completely impossible?
Or is it? Could it be that we get that verse completely wrong? Could it be that our own perfectionism and our own ideals of what life should look like are confusing us?
And yet, the Emmanuel came and put on a human body with all of its limitations and faults, with its sickness and disease, with its exhaustion and its confusion, with its hunger and thirst, and with its temptations and mistakes. This Emmanuel, Jesus, is commanding us to be perfect. He knew what is was like to have limitations. He experienced the exact same limitations and temptations as we do. Even so, He was perfect.
How is this possible? How can we live up to this measure of perfection?
I hope to investigate the answers on this blog.
