Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Jeremiah 23:6-7 [KJV]
Have you ever tried to do something perfectly - without an error, mistake, gaffe, blunder, inaccuracy, blooper, faux pas, or fault? Was your task faultless, unspoiled, flawless, faultless…perfect? Hm...don’t think I have ever accomplished a perfect anything, even though I really try – being the perfectionist type and all. When someone says, “Hey - you did your best, and that’s all anyone can do,” it really rubs me the wrong way. I should be able to do it perfectly… shouldn’t I?
One of my mother’s favorite scriptures was Matthew 5:48: Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect [NRSV]. She got a lot of mileage out of that verse with her kids, and we in turn experienced endless failure. “Be perfect? Me?” My mother had a million suggestions about how this could be accomplished. I fell short on every one of them. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be perfect: it was, in fact, impossible for me to be so.
Today’s verses from Jeremiah proclaims that the coming Messiah would be called The LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS! In capitol letters, no less! He is the Holy One, the sinless sacrifice, the perfect Son of God. That is why Matthew urges us to, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” His sinless life covers our tattered rags with a beautiful robe of white. He is perfect, He is holy, He is our Savior.
Covered with His life, whiter than snow;
Fullness of His life then shall I know;
My life of scarlet, my sin and woe,
Covered with His life, whither than snow.
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