God has given me a grace to hear His voice on some occasions…and no I am not crazy!  Let me tell you about one of those occasions.

God said to me, “Woman be perfect.”  This was following a prior conversation He had with me on the meaning of love.  I’ll back track for a moment to provide context.

Jesus asked me a question.  He said, “What is love?”  To this I said, “Well I know what love is God.  Love is a feeling.” To this Our gentle Saviour said, “Wrong” in a tender voice of compassion.  Hmmm…. I began to wonder feeling embarrassed and anxious.  So I asked “What is it then?”  Jesus said, “Love is a choice.”  And in that moment I understood that this was the turning point of my life.  I was on the threshold of a new beginning and I would have to scrutinize each and every choice I would make trying to discover was my life being driven by my feelings/emotions or was I making choices God would call LOVE.  Needless to say I never forgot this conversation and it is at the foreground of my thinking each and every day.

Ok so that’s the background of my starting point in a spiritual journey that was about to begin.  Then came the instruction “Be perfect.”  Wow….when I heard God say be perfect I went into this deep silent place inside myself and hoped God would not hear me saying “Jesus be reasonable.”  Be perfect!  How on earth could I ever be perfect.  In fact I was convinced that God was talking to me precisely because I was not perfect.   I had not yet read the Bible so I did not know that Jesus told His apostles. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Matthew 5:48

So here’s what I did.  I thought about it and thought about it (how to be perfect) for a total of three days.  At the end of the three days I concluded I didn’t know how.  In fact I wasn’t sure it was really possible.  How does a human being become perfect.  We’re humans, not statues.  We live, we move and we make mistakes.  Ok, so I was beginning to do what God wanted me to do become a little bit humble.  So I asked God, “Could we talk about being perfect.”  Because I was sure He was aware my conclusion was it was not possible for humans to be perfect.

So God said, “It is the quest for perfection, that’s what I desire.”  Ok at that point a light bulb of illumination triggered in mind and I stopped to reflect.  “A quest for perfection…” that’s a journey.  So I asked another question:  “You mean make many efforts?”  God said, “Truly that’s what I desire.”  I began to understand!  What God wanted was for us to commit to making many efforts, many choices called love and the perfection was found in the process, somewhat like the polishing of a jewel.  “Being perfect” it’s a verb (requiring action) not a noun (i.e., a state of being).  God wasn’t saying get to the destination called perfection and stay there and don’t move.  God was saying walk with me and I will help you to be perfect, for God is perfect!  I thought, “I GET IT!”  But then I had a moment of anxiety, “What happens when I fall?”  What happens when I make the wrong choice?  God said, “I will help you get up.”  And that’s mercy.  I understood.

Do you understand that you are reading this for a reason?  God wants to help you to be perfect.  God is using me to talk to you, because He loves you so much!

“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”  Romans 3: 22-25

So then friends remember that love is a choice.  We prove our love with every choice we make.  We cannot be perfect without the help of Our Lord Jesus, but with Him all things are possible and with Him we can be holy for He is holy.  Help us sweet Saviour to keep striving to be perfect, to keep loving, to keep forgiving, to keep praying, to keep standing for justice and righteousness.  Make me an instrument of Your peace Lord!  I want to do Your Will!