Matt 5:48 aBe ye therefore bperfect, even as your cFather which is in heaven is dperfect.
We are commanded to become perfect, like our Father. That makes sense. It is the nature of children to grow up to become like their parents. And yet, what a daunting request. How are we expected to do it? I think of how parents teach their children.
Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he achasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
I read the word chasten to mean correct. Verse 9 bears that out.
9 Furthermore we have had afathers of our flesh which bcorrected us, and we gave them creverence: shall we not much rather be in dsubjection unto the eFather of fspirits, and live?
Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth awitness with our bspirit, that we are the cchildren of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; aheirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we bsuffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the asufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the bglory which shall be revealed cin us.
The correction comes through suffering, or rather trials in this life. The trials of life, and how we endure them, are the refiner's fire, purging us of the imperfections that keep us from being like God. The challenge during suffering is to be humble and always learning, always becoming.
I love how that final verse puts everything into perspective. This life is but a moment, and suffering a smaller portion of that. Our sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, in the person God is leading us to become.
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