Perfection

Here it is, the post you have been waiting for.
The reason I am posting this is because I had a talk with my Colorado pastor within this last month and he brought up the question: "What did Jesus mean when he told us in the sermon on the mount to be perfect?"
Is He commanding something impossible? Is it possible?
I wasn't able to answer his question at that time because I had to go for a dentist appointment. But, now I have been considering that question quite a lot. I think we often just blow this off as, "Of course it means to be as 'good' as we can be," but I think that is leaving something out. In a way it is asking the impossible. We on our own cannot be perfect even though we try as hard as we can to be what we call "good." So, as I was thinking about how to answer the question I came across another question: What is good. 2 criminals can be working together and one of them shoots someone and the other says, "good job." But then there could be someone that considers himself to be a "good" person because he does not steal or cheat. Those were completely opposite uses of the word good but it was nonetheless the same word. I think that 'good' all depends on your point of view. From the christian standpoint, good should be anything that God would eventually say, "Well done my good and faithful servant," about. Our built in, God given conscience helps us with knowing what actions or attitudes will bring us closer to that moment. But the circle of problems continues in that we cannot achieve that moment on our own. We need help to be "good." Fortunately this is where the perfection part comes in. Jesus assists us to be good, but not just good, Perfect. I steal this idea from C.S. Lewis: that Jesus is not telling us to be perfect now but more that He will not help you towards anything but perfection. Say a child has a toothache. It knows that if it tells mother then he will get the aspirin he wants to relieve the pain but he will also get the trip to the dentist to fix the whole problem. And he knows that those dentists don't just fix the one tooth, but they will mess around with all of his other teeth before they have gotten problems. We can ask God to help us with one problem and God will help in His own way but He wont stop there. He will point out this thing that is going wrong in your life or that way that you treated your sister unkindly. He doesn't settle, He requires the full treatment of perfection. And one day he will bring us entirely into perfectness in heaven where we will be without blemish. God guides us to the point of perfection, we just have to ask for the aspirin and then trust that He will save us and guide us to where He would have us be. He never fails.

I am not sure if I have made any sense but I encourage you to study this question and help me where I have gone wrong. Thanks!