Who do you love?

“If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even pagans do that?   Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Matthew 4:46-48

I ran across this today and it seemed like a perfect complement to yesterday’s “who is my neighbor” passage.  I guess this is the “who do you love” passage.  (Is it possible to read that without George Thorgood’s “Who Do You Love” rolling through my mind?)  I think C. S. Lewis’ commentary on this (not on Thorgood’s song, on the Matthew passage) in Mere Christianity is instructive:

“On the one hand, God’s demand for perfection need not discourage you in the least in your present attempts to be good, or even in your present failures.  Each time you fall He will pick you up again.  And He knows perfectly well that your own efforts are never going to bring you anywhere near perfection.  On the other hand, you must realize from the outset that the goal towards which He is beginning to guide you is absolute perfection; an no power in the whole universe, except you yourself, can prevent Him from taking you to that goal.  That is what you are in for.  And it is very important to realize that.  If we do not we are very likely to start pulling back and resisting Him after a certain point.”

Perfection sought.  Effort accepted.  Forgiveness.  Grace.  Repeat as needed.