{"id":4064,"date":"2017-09-06T12:37:57","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T16:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/?p=4064"},"modified":"2017-09-06T12:37:57","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T16:37:57","slug":"a-prayer-to-be-perfect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2017\/09\/a-prayer-to-be-perfect.html","title":{"rendered":"A Prayer to be Perfect"},"content":{"rendered":"

But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"8682287748_6b9048678d_z\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWho do you think I am, God?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, I\u2019m only human!\u201d<\/p>\n

These are the excuses we make for ourselves when we don\u2019t feel like living up to our potential. Taking the high road and going beyond the call of duty isn\u2019t easy, and sometimes we just get lazy. We use our humanness as an excuse for mediocrity.<\/p>\n

Jesus calls us higher. He told us that Godliness or God-likeness is what we need to aim for.<\/p>\n

What does this mean? What is God like? Let\u2019s look at what God said when He introduced Himself to Israel in Exodus 34:5-7:<\/p>\n

Then the Lord came down in a cloud and stood there with him; and he called out his own name, Yahweh. The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out,<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYahweh! The Lord!<\/strong><\/em>
\n The God of compassion and mercy!<\/strong><\/em>
\nI am slow to anger<\/strong><\/em>
\n and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.<\/strong><\/em>
\n I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations.<\/strong><\/em>
\n I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin.<\/strong><\/em>
\nBut I do not excuse the guilty\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

David reiterated God\u2019s characteristics in Psalm 86:5,15.<\/p>\n

O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive,<\/em><\/strong>
\n so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help.<\/em><\/strong>
\nBut you, O Lord,<\/em><\/strong>
\n are a God of compassion and mercy,<\/em><\/strong>
\nslow to get angry <\/em><\/strong>
\nand filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

If we want to earnestly become the people Jesus is challenging us to become, we want these God-like characteristics to be manifesting in our hearts every day. Let\u2019s break some of these characteristics down:<\/p>\n

God is compassionate. <\/strong>
\nTo be compassionate, we need to listen to people. This involves being a person not driven to talking too much; instead we listen, then respond with empathy.<\/p>\n

God is merciful.<\/strong>
\nGod isn\u2019t judging and angry. He shows mercy. Mercy is called for when someone deserves punishment. So when we show mercy, we are dealing with someone who is undeserving. Jesus made it clear that it\u2019s easy to give love to those who are lovable. It\u2019s when people wrong us and we still love them, we still show them mercy, that\u2019s when we are behaving in a God-like manner.<\/p>\n

God is slow to get angry.<\/strong>
\nPeople with transformed lives aren\u2019t easily rattled by things. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that love isn\u2019t touchy. You can\u2019t really irritate a loving person. It takes a great deal to get godly people flustered.<\/p>\n

God is filled with faithful love.<\/strong>
\nPeople who look like God are true to their loved ones. They aren\u2019t comparing them to others. Their love doesn\u2019t grow cold or get distracted.<\/p>\n

God is good.<\/strong>
\nGrowing in our godliness means that true goodness will be the essence of our character. We don\u2019t do anything contrary to goodness \u2013 not the slightest cheat on our taxes, nor the whitest of white lies leaves our lips. When we are distilled down to the core, goodness is there. Perhaps when we are cremated, even our ashes will be good fertilizer for the ground.<\/p>\n

God is ready and willing to forgive. <\/strong>
\nGodly people wake up ready to forgive little offenses, willing to overlook things that aren\u2019t worthy of the time, effort and distraction that strife creates.<\/p>\n

God is waiting to give to all in need.<\/strong>
\nWaking up each day asking God to use me to give to others in need is a wonderful way to lead a godly life.<\/p>\n

Ready to take steps toward godliness in your life? Make this plain and simple declaration, the declaration God made about Himself. These are words of faith! We are instructed to use our words to create reality by calling those things which are not as though they are. We aren\u2019t godly yet, but let\u2019s declare that we are well on the way:<\/p>\n

Father,<\/em><\/p>\n

I thank You that You are making me like You! With Your help I am becoming a person of compassion, open-hearted and open-handed to the needs of those around me.\u00a0<\/em>You, Lord, are creating me to be a merciful person. Thank You, Lord, that You are ridding my life of anger issues. You are causing me to become a person of quiet patience, unruffled by circumstances that disappoint me, full of faith in my God to deliver me from every attack that comes my way.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank You, Lord, for filling my heart to overflowing with Your love so that it spills out on everyone around me! Thank You for making me faithful to those I am committed to.<\/em><\/p>\n

You, Lord, are reflecting Your goodness into the heart of my soul. I am becoming a true and good-natured person. I stand ready to forgive anyone who cuts me off, offends me, ignores me, or does me wrong.<\/em><\/p>\n

I fill myself with the truth of Your Word so that love just oozes out of me to anyone who comes across my path. I declare this to be so, and I thank You that You are working in me today to transform me into Your image.<\/em><\/p>\n

In Jesus\u2019 Name<\/em>
\nAmen!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo credit:\u00a0Steve Corey<\/a>\u00a0via\u00a0Foter.com<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0CC BY-ND<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48) \u201cWho do you think I am, God?\u201d \u201cHey, I\u2019m only human!\u201d These are the excuses we make for ourselves when we don\u2019t feel like living up to our potential. Taking the high road and going beyond the call of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":478,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,15,7,4,25,3],"tags":[1978,2202,2201,401,2203,2200,1443],"class_list":["post-4064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-bible-prayer","category-daily-prayer","category-god","category-jesus","category-prayer","tag-becoming-a-safe-person","tag-becoming-like-jesus","tag-growing-in-godliness","tag-transformed-mind","tag-transformed-personality","tag-what-is-god-like","tag-who-is-god"],"yoast_head":"\nA Prayer to be Perfect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2017\/09\/a-prayer-to-be-perfect.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Prayer to be Perfect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48) \u201cWho do you think I am, God?\u201d \u201cHey, I\u2019m only human!\u201d These are the excuses we make for ourselves when we don\u2019t feel like living up to our potential. Taking the high road and going beyond the call of…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2017\/09\/a-prayer-to-be-perfect.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prayer, Plain and Simple\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-06T16:37:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/files\/2017\/09\/8682287748_6b9048678d_z-300x199.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark and Jill Herringshaw\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Prayer to be Perfect","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2017\/09\/a-prayer-to-be-perfect.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Prayer to be Perfect","og_description":"But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. 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