What does it mean to be perfect?

...and should we be striving for perfection?

Through many things I have heard and read recently, the word "perfect" keeps coming up. In Matthew 5:48 Jesus tells us to be perfect like your father in heaven is perfect. The Greek word for perfect here is teleois. There are eight Greek words for perfect in the New Testament. Teleois is a process of being made perfect or mature. You can't just tell a baby to be an adult. There is a process in becoming a mature adult. But who's to say when an adult is mature?

At first when Brad spoke to us about teleois my biggest question was, when is teleois achieved? Is is when we die?Maybe, because then we can no longer work towards becoming perfect. I wrestled with this question and I think a better answer is not death but after death when we are in the presence of God. Then we will be complete and perfect.

Another Greek word for perfect is katartizo meaning to mend (what has been broken, or rent), to repair. In Hebrews 13:21 this word for perfect is used.
               "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be all glory for ever and ever. Amen."
I don't know about you but that makes me ecstatic! God is the one who makes us perfect, its not by anything we do.