Be Perfect As Your Father In Heaven Is Perfect. What?!?

What did Jesus mean when He challenged us to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect?  How does a Christian go about living up to that standard? To understand this statement and answer those questions we need to look at the meaning of the word 'perfect' as it is used in this scripture.  But more importantly we need to examine the context in which the statement is made.  Once we have digested the meaning and context, this teaching of Jesus, though still incredibly challenging, provides us with a very specific life application we can all understand and strive for.