How Can a Person Be Perfect?

How can humans be as perfect as Heavenly Father?  The most obvious answer is to do it as Jesus did it.  Jesus never sinned.  Not once.  He led a perfect life.  This is one way to meet Heavenly Father’s command to “BE Perfect” --- never sin!  Jesus met the requirement to be perfect by never becoming unclean.

But this example does not help anyone who has already sinned – even just once.  James tells us:  For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.  James 2:10  James reinforces the principle that perfection is not based on relative performance.  He dramatically illustrates that no one can be partially perfect.  A person either is or is not perfect!  Just as one pin prick pops the balloon, one sin makes a person imperfect.  Perfection is not based on grading a person’s effort.  Trying as hard as you can or doing all you can do does not meet Heavenly Father’s criteria!  Perfection is absolute.  Therefore committing even just one sin is absolutely not perfection.

To meet the command to be perfect someone who has sinned must find a way to be cleansed of that sin, every sin.  The most natural thought that comes to mind is to simply make restitution.  This is a second way to meet Heavenly Father’s command to “BE Perfect”; make complete restitution.  If someone breaks a law but then pays the fine they are back in good standing, right?

But what if more laws were broken than the person could possibly pay for?  What if the person couldn’t completely stop breaking laws?  What if the price of restitution was higher than the person could pay?  That person’s debt to sin would be overwhelming.  That person could never make complete restitution!

The good news is Heavenly Father does provide a way for people to make restitution for their sin:  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23 The bad news is the penalty for any and all sin is death. Not a temporary physical death; but eternal spiritual death, the opposite of Eternal Life. To make restitution for even one sin a person must suffer eternal death. Simply stated, this is an undesirable fate.

It is at this point that some people rationalize themselves into a paradox saying “I just have to do the best I can!”  They adopt the thinking – Maybe if the person did all that was in his or her power to make amends, maybe if he or she could demonstrate his or her worth; maybe doing all you can do is all God sets for the standard of restitution?  But this relative measurement does not come anywhere close to meeting Heavenly Father’s absolute command to Be as perfect as he is.

Many other people simply despair in their inability to cleanse themselves of all of their sins. Both of these groups of people fail to see the life in the apparent death sentence of Romans 6:23:  “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” .

There is a way to Be Perfect Now!

There is a third way to be perfect; a way which cleanses people that have soiled themselves with sin. This way is the gift which enacts Eternal Life. This way is described in Scripture as “having your sins taken away”. This is the focus of the Bible Gems gathered in this Drawer. The gems pictured in this Drawer are some of the most famous and most valuable gems on the face of the earth.  Many have names that you might recognize.  Some are even flawless.  The Bible Gems that go with these pictures are some of the most powerful and profound in all of Scripture. They lay the foundation of saving faith!