Be Perfect

“If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”   – Matthew 5:46-48
 

The father of a learning disabled boy named Shaya was speaking to a special education group and he concluded his speech by asking, “The Bible says everything God makes is perfect, but where is the perfection in my son? He can’t learn like other children and he can’t remember facts like other children, where is the perfection?”

The group was stunned because they hadn’t expected such an outburst. The father looked around the room and answered his own question, “I think that when God brings someone like Shaya into the world the perfection He is seeking is found in how we treat Him.”

The father then told this true story to the group.

He and Shaya were out walking one day when they came upon a group of boys playing baseball. Shaya turned to his father and asked, “Dad, do you think they would let me play?” The father knew that his son was uncoordinated and the other boys wouldn’t want him on his team but he decided to ask anyway. He approached one of the boys in the outfield and asked if Shaya could play with them. “Well,” the outfielder replied, “it’s the eight inning and we’re down by 6 runs. I guess he can play. We’ll try to get him up to bat in the ninth inning. ”The father was so happy and Shaya was grinning from ear to ear.

In the bottom of the eighth Shaya’s team scored four runs and were now down by only two. By the bottom of the ninth the bases were loaded – the winning runs were on base – and it was Shaya’s turn to bat. Would they let Shaya up to bat with the game on the line knowing that he couldn’t possibly get a hit?

Surprisingly, they did. Shaya stepped up to the plate and when the first pitch came swung awkwardly. Poor Shaya couldn’t even hold the bat correctly. Strike one.

Then one of Shaya’s teammates came up to the plate and showed him how to hold the bat. The pitcher took a few steps forward and lobbed a slow pitch towards the plate. With his teammate’s help Shaya swung and hit a grounder to the pitcher. All the pitcher had to do was throw the ball to first and the game was over.

The pitcher watched Shaya run towards first, then threw the ball ten feet over the first basemen’s head. “Run Shaya, run,” his teammates shouted. The first basemen, understanding what the pitcher was doing,  picked up the ball and threw it ten feet over the second basemen’s head. The shortstop ran up to Shaya and pointed him towards third and shouted “Run to third Shaya!” By the time Shaya reached third base both teams were shouting “Run home Shaya, run home!” And once he stepped on home plate all eighteen boys cheered as they lifted him up on his shoulders because Shaya had just hit a grand slam to win the game.

Shaya’s father had tears streaming down his face when he said, “For just that moment those eighteen boys reached their level of perfection in how they treated my son.”

When Jesus tells us to be perfect in the verses above what He’s saying is that He wants us to demonstrate perfection in how we treat one another. He doesn’t want us to love only those who love us, He encourages us to go deeper -- to be perfect. He wants us to show unconditional love for everyone – to those who are less fortunate than us and even those who hate us. “Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)

When we react to the poor, the lowly and the disabled with generosity, kindness and respect we react perfectly. When we react to the hateful with love we react perfectly and our heavenly Father is pleased.  Why? Because every day the Christian’s represent the living God to a dying world and it is by our love that this world will know we belong to Him (John 13:35). If the world sees that we love them because Christ loves us they will want to meet this Christ of ours. And when they meet Him, Oh! What a great and wonderful Savior they will find.