We often think of God as perfect and ourselves as imperfect.  Good theology teaches us that our good works are as “filthy rags” before him.  While these things are true,

that understanding of perfection (sanctification) is not what is being referred to here. 

This was written as a command to the nation of Israel who were just about to be established in their own land and live according to God’s laws.  The Israelites were about to be confronted with the philosophies, culture and practices of the pagan cultures surrounding them.  No doubt many of these pagan ideas, practices, and culture would be intriguing and have a certain appeal.  If you have read the Old Testament, you know this was their downfall time after time. 

Verses 9-11 give us the specifics that God was concerned about:

“When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.  There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.”

Without these vigilant warnings in verses 9-11, the people may have been tempted to incorporate these practices in their own lives.  Note that these were all means that the culture around them used to find “something greater” in life – some extra knowledge, some extra sense of purpose, some extra power, some supernatural fulfillment.

But God wanted them (and us) to be “perfect” with Him.  The idea behind the word is to be complete, lacking nothing.  Someone who is lacking nothing doesn’t need to go out looking for “something greater”.  Yet, just like the Israelites, we often fall victim to this kind of thinking.  Maybe your walk with the Lord seems like it is not enough.  Maybe you wonder if the world has “something greater” and you are missing out. 

But just like the Israelites of the Old Testament, we as Christians need to hold fast to the truth that “thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God”.  We don’t need anything in the world around us to make us fulfilled and joy-filled human beings.  God should not just be a source of fulfillment or even our primary source - He should be our ONLY source.  It is time to stop chasing the pleasures, promotions, and practices of this world to find fulfillment and to be “perfect with the Lord thy God”.