My Favorite Verses - Vol V (Feb 17 to Jun 17)

Matthew 19:21 … Becoming Perfect
(03/13/2017)
“If you wish to be perfect then go, sell all your possessions and give the
money to the poor. Then you will have Treasure in Heaven … Afterwards, come
and follow me.” ~ Jesus (Matthew 19:21)
First & foremost, despite the ego‟s flagrantly errant protestations to the
contrary (e.g. “But I‟m only human,” “But there has to be a balance between caring for
others and caring for myself” etc etc) perfection is possible for us all – at the very
least in the context Jesus intends in this verse … Please consider the following
biblical facts: A) God is perfect Love (Matthew 5:48) … B) God – and therefore
that same Love – resides within us all (John 14:20) … and C) All we have to do to
actualize the same is to selflessly do & caringly be just as Jesus chose to do & be
in the Gospels (John 14:12).
Impossible, you say? Over the course of an entire lifetime, of course it is …
And yet that is not what we have been Called to do. We have been Called to “be
perfect” in our Love for only one instant of our lives – this instant. We simply
have to take Life – and Give it perfect Love – one moment at a time (Matthew
6:34) … Of course, directly tied to this Truth is the self-sacrifice implicit in selling
everything you have and giving the proceeds to those who have less – in Caring
for the downtrodden repeatedly in small but significant ways (Matthew 25:35-40).
For to do otherwise is to fall into a zombie-like existence of monetary gain &/or
the monotonous accumulation of material wealth. And as Jesus oh so correctly
pointed out, “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one
and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot
[simultaneously] serve both God and wealth” (Matthew 6:24) … And after said
cleansing of the superfluous has been fulfilled, note that the one detaching from
such superficialities (and having selflessly given the proceeds to the downtrodden
thereafter) “will have treasure in Heaven” – remembering that for Jesus “Heaven”
as not a post-mortem reward elsewhere but a pre-mortem Bliss that comes to us
during such salvational deeds (Luke 17:20-21 + John 13:15-17 et al) … And what are
we to do thereafter? What are we to do after cleansing ourselves from our
attachment to all our possessions (if not actually giving away a large portion thereof)?
Most importantly, once these self-centered
comforts have been washed clean, it is
necessary to go forth into Life and “follow”
Jesus – i.e. emulate his Way of Loving –
i.e. taking up our own unique crosses of
courageous self-sacrifice and carrying them
daily throughout our lives. (Matthew 16:24)
Amen ... Let it be so.
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