Now there’s a good question, at least for those bold enough to ask. It would be nice to have that answer, to check off everything on the list, and then live easy, confident in qualification.
The good news is that this question has already been answered, foregoing your need to request a personal audience with the LORD in oder to ask that question.
The prophet Micah reported the answer:
“He has shown you, O human, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.”
Got it. Only need to do three things, and the assignment is completed.
Okay I am being sarcastic, I think. Maybe doing each task once does not really fulfill the requirement. Maybe each should be done 7 times (the perfect number, right?), or 77 times, or 70 times 7.
About 700 years later, one Rabbi stated it a bit differently:
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
This phrase was part of a sermon that went overtime, during a large outdoor gathering. The Rabbi involved was Yeshua, whom some called ‘The Son of Man’.
One might ask if he, himself, lived up to that instruction. Because if he did not, he could not really expect us to, right? I confess I have spent a significant portion of my life looking into this, which is why I write this blog.
There was a Pharisee who came close to qualifying. His name was Saul of Tarsus. He introduced his pedigree by writing:
… “though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”
Now that sounds like he found a way to reach up to the high bar. Yet right after he wrote that, he continued:
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith — that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
For those interested in how this incredible transformation came about, you can read how Saul’s life changed in one moment, directly from his testimony before Herod Agrippa, childhood friend and companion to the future Roman Emperor Claudius. Herod Agrippa was King of Judea from 41 to 44 AD. You can read Saul’s testimony by going to Acts 25
In that same letter to the Philippians, quoted above, Saul also wrote about the example set by Yeshua, mentioned above as the Rabbi would said “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” By the time Saul wrote this letter, Yeshua had been crucified, and died.
Saul wrote of Yeshua:
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!”
Now there’s a few more things to add to your checklist, if indeed you are still trying to take care of things yourself. As for me, I am just an apprentice of the carpenter.
Oh, there is a little bit more…
Saul went on from the previous description to add:
“Therefore God exalted [Yeshua/Jesus] to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”
If you are open to thinking more about such things, I invite you to go to The Witness List and select any story there to see how others wrestled with the unusual person of Yeshua.
Percipient Witnesses 