Achieving Perfection

"For your part you shall be righteous and perfect in the way your heavenly Father is righteous and perfect." - Matthew 5:48

The people sitting on the side of the mountain as Jesus spoke these words must have felt overwhelmed when He commanded them to be perfect and righteous as God is perfect and righteous. But I think that part of God's perfection is being able to look at each of us as individuals, see our strengths and weaknesses and then judge us based on that. For us to be perfect and righteous we need to take a good look at ourselves, be totally honest and try our best to be as God-like as possible. Ideally, there is so much that I would like to do for God - forgive some people who've hurt me, spend my weekend volunteering, etc., but in reality, maybe the best I can do right now is just praying for those who have hurt me and donate $20 to someone who needs it. If I'm honest with myself and realize this is the most I'm capable of doing right now and I actually try my best to get it done, I believe that is perfect and righteous in God's eyes. With this, I am being perfect and righteous as Jesus commanded because I gave the best of me at the moment. And the great thing about God is that when you give a little, He gives triple what you put in… so if right now you give the best you can to Him, He will give you graces to go a little further each time, until the day you will be perfect and righteous in the same way your Father in Heaven is perfect and righteous.

Today's Prayer:
Jesus, help me to be honest with myself. I know I am not perfect and have many things I need to work on, but if I do the best I can with what I have, I know that will please You. In Your Name we pray, amen.