Called to Be Perfect

When Jesus said, “You must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), He issued what may be the most staggering command in all of Scripture. For many of us, those words land not as inspiration but intimidation. Be perfect? Really?

This wasn’t said in isolation either. Just moments before, He told His listeners to love their enemies a call that already feels beyond human capacity. Then, He lifts the standard higher still perfection like God Himself.

The honest Christian, no matter how long they’ve walked with Jesus, will eventually admit this truth we fall short. In fact, the longer we walk with Christ, the more aware we often become of our own spiritual weakness. It’s no coincidence that some of the most mature saints are the quickest to confess how far they still are from being "perfect."

So what do we do with a command that appears unattainable?

Sinless Perfection Is Not the Expectation

First, we must understand what Jesus doesn't mean. He is not commanding sinless perfection in the here and now. We know this because just one chapter later, Jesus instructs us to pray, “Forgive us our debts” (Matthew 6:12). And Luke makes it even clearer: “Forgive us our sins” (Luke 11:4). Why would Christ teach us to regularly confess our sins if He expected us never to commit any?

The apostles echo this same reality. James writes, “We all stumble in many ways” (James 3:2), and John says plainly, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” (1 John 1:8). Even the Apostle Paul, who wrote a large portion of the New Testament, confessed, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect” (Philippians 3:12). Clearly, no one even the spiritual giants have lived lives free of sin.

The New Testament does not portray Christian life as a flawless climb to sinless perfection. Instead, it’s a battle a journey of growth in faith and obedience, often marked by failure and divine grace.

Yet Perfection Is Still Required

Here’s where it gets uncomfortable. Even though sinless perfection isn’t expected of us in this life, it is still required. Jesus doesn’t water down the command. God’s moral standard is perfection. That’s the very definition of His righteousness, and He cannot compromise His justice to accommodate our sin.

This creates a divine dilemma: How can a morally perfect God be reconciled to morally imperfect humans without compromising His own perfection?

That’s the heartbeat of the gospel. The answer is Jesus. Paul explains this in Romans 3:23–26. We have all sinned and fall short of God’s glory, but we are “justified by His grace as a gift.” God sent His Son as a sacrifice, and through Jesus’s blood, our sin was paid for not swept under a rug, but fully accounted for in a just and righteous way.

God did not lower the bar of perfection. Instead, He sent Jesus to clear it in our place. Then, through faith, He credits Jesus’s perfect righteousness to us. As Paul beautifully summarizes. “For our sake [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

But We Still Must Strive

At this point, many believers are tempted to relax. Jesus paid it all. We have His righteousness. Why should we keep striving? Isn’t pursuing obedience now just an act of legalism?

Not at all. Paul confronts this very notion in Romans 6. “Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” (Romans 6:15). True grace doesn’t produce complacency it fuels transformation.

The Christian life is not about earning God’s love but responding to it. Paul describes this as “the obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5). James says that “faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26), and Jesus Himself declares, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

We don’t strive for perfection to get saved we strive because we are saved. Sanctification, the process of becoming more like Christ, isn’t about measuring up but about maturing.

A 2024 Lifeway Research study found that 73% of churchgoers believe spiritual growth is a lifelong journey, not a one-time event. This is consistent with the biblical picture of growing in grace. We’re not perfect yet, but we are called to “excel still more” (1 Thessalonians 4:1 NASB).

God’s Delight in Your Effort

Yet even as we grow, we wonder: Is God pleased with me? How can I know if I’m doing “enough”?

There’s no universal checklist, but we can trust that God, like a good Father, delights in even our feeblest attempts to obey. C.S. Lewis put it this way: “[God] is easy to please, but hard to satisfy.” He’s pleased with the toddler steps of faith and growth but won’t stop encouraging us to become all He made us to be.

That balance delight and holy dissatisfaction reminds us that God’s love is both comforting and challenging. He cheers for us while also calling us higher.

As the psalmist writes, “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). God is not a grim taskmaster, demanding impossible standards with no grace. He is a loving Father, patiently working in us, through His Spirit, for His glory and our joy.

A Call to Joyful Progress

So what does it mean to “be perfect” like your heavenly Father? It means to walk the path of grace-fueled growth, trusting that Christ’s perfection has covered your imperfection, and allowing that truth to shape every part of your life.

We aim not for a sterile moral record, but for a life that increasingly reflects God’s character His mercy, His patience, His love, and yes, His holiness. And in that pursuit, God meets us with grace upon grace.

If you're feeling the weight of Jesus's command today, don't run from it. Let it lead you back to the cross, where the bar of holiness was cleared for you, and then forward again into a life of joyful obedience, one faithful step at a time.

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