"Be ye therefore perfect"

This is not my typical post, and forgive me, because it will probably be a bit long, but I have had some thoughts that I wanted to put into words.

Today I ran into an old friend, a girl that I knew in college, 12 years and (20 pounds) ago. We both had our children at the pediatrician's office, and the whole time I was sitting there talking to her, I was thinking that I wished I had put on make-up and changed out of my old jeans and T-shirt. I was so embarrassed to be seen looking like I did. She still looked like she did in college, cute and thin. Her hair was done neatly and she had nice clothes on. She was so kind and we had a great time catching up, and I am sure that she gave no thought to the worries that were going on in my head.

A similar thing happened a few weeks back. A friend popped in during the early afternoon, and my house was a mess, and again, I was embarrassed that my dished weren't done, and that there were cheerios on my floor, and that my kids were grubby with their hair undone, and in whatever clothes they had picked out for themselves that morning.

When I left my friend this morning, I thought to myself, 'why do you care so much about what you look like, and what other people think of your appearance?' I have thought on that all morning, and this is the conclusion that I have come to.

In Matthew, we are given the admonition to "be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." That is a tall order for all of us simply because of our human nature. We are each trying to do the best that we can, and trying to be Christ-like followers I think, but somehow, in my mind, I translated that to mean that I have to be physically perfect, (you know, thin, beautiful, and well dressed with a clean house and perfect children). When really that is not what Christ is asking of us. The kind of perfection that He is asking of us is not a physical perfection (as in a spotless house, weed-free lawn, perfectly groomed children, or trendy appearance). I believe He is looking for a perfected heart .

In 1 Samuel 16:7 it reads-

7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

I have been too concerned with my failure to be outwardly perfect, to pay much attention to perfection of the heart. Perhaps that is one of Satan's great tools to lead us astray- his great distraction. He tricks us into thinking that appearances are more important than personal purity. He tries to keeps us so busy keeping up with the Jones's and so wrapped up in materialistic things, that we have no time for what is really important. I hope you won't think that I am saying that those people who have it all together, have put their priorities in the wrong place because that is not at all what I mean. I simply realized that the Lord expects great things from me, just not the same things that I have been expecting from myself lately.

So, while I do believe that a clean house is a happy house & I will continue the never-ending battle to have a clean house, I want to worry less about the unimportant things in life, and pay more attention to the things that are of worth, my husband, my kids, my faith, and my heart.