11 March 2017 - so be perfect

[ Today's Readings ]

Let us keep the commandments of the LORD so that we can be his sacred people, raised high in praise and renown and glory, peculiarly his own. His commandments make us like him so that we may be children of our heavenly Father. He calls us to love because he himself is love. He calls us to love our enemies because while we make ourselves his enemies he loves us anyway.

while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son (see Romans 5:10).

He calls us to a higher standard than that of the world. He calls us to a love which is impossible for the world. The world is capable of a mercenary sort of love. It is willing to love those who love back. It is utterly incapable of this love which is the definitive mark of God and of his family. We are not called merely to follow rules. We are called to share in God's own life by manifesting his love in our own lives.

So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

So let us rejoice that God is helping us see how to follow him more closely. Let us be open to him when he calls us higher and does not let us settle in complacency.

You have commanded that your precepts
be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes!

The LORD wants us to share in the blessings that come to those who follow his laws. He reveals the parts of our hearts that still need more of this light. He shines his light on us. If we don't flee from it the darkness is cast out and we are transformed.