The Command of Love
Greetings and good morning brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series
where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years,
the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them
with you. This morning we will ponder our lives as we seek to understand the meaning of the
command of love.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Command of Love
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Matthew, Chapter
5, Verse 48.
"Be you perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect," said Jesus. How in the world can we
accomplish that? When we consider our imperfections, limitations, weaknesses, selfishness, and our
cravings for material pursuits, we must view that command as impossible to attain. Consider these
statements: "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" and "no one, not one is perfect except
God." When we view our personal experience, we are convicted in our hearts that those statements
are true. No matter how hard we try to do or be good, we find that we fall short, that something
undermines our efforts. We conclude that we can do nothing.
But still that command reverberates in our souls. It constantly drives us, ever so gently, in its
persistence. It causes us to strive to master things, meanings, and values, and the things, the
meanings, and the values that we must master constantly increase. But still we struggle on and on,
often becoming confused and discouraged. But still that command keeps picking us up when we fall
or drift into darkness. And often we wonder why we keep on trying. Sometimes we may temporarily
give up, but not for long, for always does the light of the Father's love ever so gently in mercy and
forgiveness gets us back on the track of love's life.
The Father has given us this supreme command, to be perfect as he is perfect, but the same Father
has also given us the means to carry out this command. And this is true notwithstanding our inability
to perceive or comprehend how this can be. In love has the Father sent His spirit, in reality the power
of the Father, to assist us in accomplishing this feat. The Father agrees to do everything; we agree
to believe, to trust, and to follow the Father's instructions when we becomes conscious of them. And
our response to those instruction of love and mercy is always, "not my will, but Your will be done."
"Not my will, but Your will be done" implies that there are two ways that we can react to a given
situation under a given set of circumstances. We can react to a given situation according to our
personal preference--advancing our personal goals--or we may choose the Father's way--the divine
response. The divine response is revealed in the life of Jesus; thus, the Father's way is the way of
love, patience, mercy, and forgiveness-divine goodness.
When we choose the Father's will, we allow the Father to spiritualize us, to make us less than what
we are by nature and more of what He is. When we choose the Father's will, the Father gradually
leads us to become concerned primarily with spiritual values rather than material ones. True, we still
have to live in the material world, subject to its laws.
When we choose the Father's will, we are still subject to the great drives of material life for self
preservation, but these drives are now subjugated to a greater and spiritual ideal--the search for the
Father. Brothers and sisters, there is a funny thing about this search for the Father: the more we are
able to dedicate ourselves to this great and glorious search, the better we are able to deal more
effectively with the material problems of life. Living the material life then becomes a joy because
spirit values are translated into intellectual meaning.
When we choose the Father's will in every experience, we consecrated believers discover new values
and new meanings. Even being the victim of evil brings good to us, even more so than a normal
experience since the Father compensates us for vanquishing evil with good. When we choose the
Father's will we are spiritually victorious over all experiences when we submit to them with love,
patience, mercy and forgiveness. And when we emerge from the ashes of material defeat, our new
spiritual self knows that it has been victorious since it emerges from any and all experiences even
more dedicated to doing the Father's will. This is spiritual perfection.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of the command of love. We hope
you find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day. Until next
time, this is Dr. James Perry.
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By Dr. James Perry
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!
The Command of Love
