THE LIFE OF PERFECTION
Heb. 11:32-40, Ps. 30, Mark 5:1-20

They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated-of whom the world was not worthy-wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth" (Heb. 11:37-38). 

The Letter to the Hebrews speaks here of the times of persecution in Israel when it was necessary to live in the desert and in caves. This happened especially in the time of the Maccabees, when "Mattathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying: ‘Let every one who is zealous for the law and supports the covenant, come out with me!' And he and his sons fled to the hills and left all that they had in the city" (1 Macc. 2:27-28). And "Judas Maccabeus, with about nine others, got away to the wilderness, and kept himself and his companions alive in the mountains as wild animals do; they continued to live on what grew wild, so that they might not share in the defilement" (2 Macc. 5:27). These were people of faith who fled from the city, from the world, to live for God alone in the desert.

Later John the Baptist appeared in the desert of Judah, where he had lived from his youth. "And he was in the wilderness till the day of his manifestation to Israel" (Luke 1:80). And "John wore a garment of camel's hair, and a leather girdle around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey" (Matt. 3:4). He too lived in the desert for God alone, far from he pleasures, fine food, distractions, and noise of the world.

Until the present day there are those who leave the world to live for God, with a completely undivided heart. "They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated-of whom the world was not worthy-wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth" (Heb. 11:37-38).

This is the life of perfection, the consecrated life, the sanctified life, the life of evangelical poverty, a life of great simplicity for love of God. It is a life of simple, basic food, only what is necessary to sustain life and maintain health, where one renounces all else, all that is only for pleasure, so that one may seek all his delight only in the Lord, not in the unnecessary pleasures of the world. The more one renounces the unnecessary pleasures of the world for love of God, the greater will be the love of God that fills his heart and whole being.

This is the life of perfection, to which Jesus called the rich young man: "Jesus said to him, ‘If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven'" (Matt. 19:21). It will be difficult to enter the kingdom of heaven if one lives in pleasures as a rich man. "Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19:23-24).

This life of perfection will receive a hundredfold reward, for "everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life" (Matt. 19:29 NKJV). Thus many who are first in the world will be last in the kingdom of God; while many who are last in this world-because they have renounced all for the love of God-will be first in the kingdom of God, for "many that are first will be last, and the last first" (Matt. 19:30). Let us therefore be last so that we may be first.