Have you heard it said that no one is perfect? You see the visible evidence of this every day. Yet my word tells you to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Does it appear that I have set an impossible task before you? If you think of it in terms of achievement you are right. Are you familiar with the idea of convergence? This is a mathematical concept but it has real-world examples. If you are moving toward something you are said to be converging with it even before you arrive there. I am pleased if you make perfection your goal and I will perfect that which concerns you. 

Do you know who your neighbors are? When I told someone to love his neighbor as himself he asked, who is my neighbor? I replied with the story of the Good Samaritan. The implied answer was that everyone is your neighbor, even those from other cultures, faiths, countries, and all other means of arbitrary distinction. You start life in a small circle comprised of your family. As you grow your circle should grow as well. If you make your circle a sharp rigid boundary favoring those inside and excluding those without, you limit your own growth and transformation into the Kingdom of God. 

Have you noticed how many people have changed direction spiritually at some point? They may have spent years in one faith tradition only to forsake it for another. They would describe this as an improvement and movement toward greater truth and hopefully they are right. Too many of these hold an attitude of bitterness and resentment toward their past, and for the time they consider wasted in another tradition. This is an area where you should be gentle with yourself rather than filled with regret. There is no shame in living according to the light available to you at the time. I can use even the parts of your past that you consider wasted as a part of my redemptive and transformative work in your life. 

Does your faith include rituals? Sacraments are rituals but not all rituals are sacraments. Rituals have meaning in that they are symbolic of larger concepts. Rituals get a bad name because it is possible to go through the motions without engaging the larger concept. Will you close a door for no reason? You can close a door for many reasons but you don’t do it just to go through the motion. Neither should you build a fire on my altar for no reason, and the fact that you did it yesterday and the day before isn’t enough. I have given you the freedom to choose your own rituals. Engage yours with purpose and passion and they will give you life.