Monday

Related Verses
Matt. 5:44-48
44 But I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you,
45 So that you may become sons of your Father who is in the heavens, because He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
47 And if you greet only your brothers, what better thing are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
48 You therefore shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Eph. 5:29
29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ also the church,

Rev. 19:7
7 Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.

Gen. 1:26
26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

Rom. 9:21, 23
21 Or does not the potter have authority over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?
23 In order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory,

Related Reading
“For the kingdom people to be perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect means that they are perfect in His love. They are the Father’s children, having the Father’s divine life and divine nature. Hence, they can be perfect as their Father is. The demand of the new law of the kingdom is much higher than the requirement of the law of the old dispensation. This higher demand can be met only by the Father’s divine life, not by their natural life…First, the gospel presents in the Gospel of Matthew the kingdom of the heavens as the highest demand, and last it affords us in the Gospel of John the divine life of the heavenly Father as the highest supply, by which we can have the highest living of the kingdom of the heavens. The demand of the new law of the kingdom in Matthew 5 through 7 is actually the expression of the new life, the divine life, which is within the regenerated kingdom people. This demand opens up the inner being of the regenerated people, showing them that they are able to attain to such a high level and to have such a high living. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 231-232)

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All the requirements of these changed laws [Matt. 5:31-48] reveal how much the divine life within us can do for us. These laws are not merely a requirement; they are a revelation, showing us that the divine life can even make us perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect…We have a life with such a divine nature that it can make us as perfect as our heavenly Father [v. 48].  

The Father causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and…He sends rain on the just and the unjust [v. 45]…This indicates that in the eyes of the heavenly Father there is no difference in sending the sunshine first on the evil and then on the good and sending the rain first on the just and then on the unjust.  

The Lord’s word was intended to touch our being, our natural choice, and to expose what we are and where we are. When we have been exposed and subdued, we will give the full opportunity to the divine life to live in us. This will make us perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect. We cannot imitate the Father. When I was young, I was taught by those in Christianity that our heavenly Father loves those who are bad and that we should love our enemies just as our Father does. Although this sounds good, it actually is like trying to teach a monkey to behave like a person…We are the sons of our heavenly Father. Thus, the Father’s life and nature are within us. All the outward enemies, compellers, and opponents expose what we are. Because they expose our natural being, we learn not to trust ourselves any longer but to look to our Father and to realize that we have His life and nature within us. Through this exposure we come to see that we must stay close to Him and live by His life and nature. In this way we will be perfect as our heavenly Father. This is the kingdom life, the kingdom living.  

Misunderstanding these verses, many Christians have taken them as instructions concerning their outward behavior. This is the reason so many have been disappointed and have said, “This is too much for us. We are far away from it, and we are unable to fulfill it.” This is not a common word given by the Lord Jesus; it is the constitution of the heavenly kingdom. Because we are His kingdom people, we can certainly fulfill these requirements. We have the kingdom life within us, and we can fulfill these laws not in ourselves but by the Father’s life and nature. Therefore, we must thank Him for sending so many contrary things into our environment in order to touch our being and to expose what we are so that we may be fully subdued, turn to Him, stay near to Him, trust in Him, and live by Him. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 232-234)  

Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msg. 19