God's Standard

Two of our memory verses address the perfection of God's holy nature.  The first is Psalms 145:17

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds.

It's such a simple, straightforward statement.  In all God's ways He is righteous.  There is not hint of darkness, no compromise with evil, no blemish in his thoughts or eternal essence.  Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty.  As righteous as God is in all His ways, He is also kind in all his deeds.  He causes the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust.  He remembers that we are but dust.  And in the execution of His justice, He gave His only Son as the propitiation for our sins, the satisfaction of His righteousness and justice.  God is kind in His patience.  As it says in 2 Peter 3:9, "⁹ The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."  In every way, God is righteous, not punishing any who are righteous.  Yet, there are none who are righteous, not even one.  So, that we are not immediately consumed by God's righteous judgment, but we are given time to repent and come to God through Jesus by faith, is an example of God's kindness in all His ways.

The second verse that addresses the perfection of God's holy nature is Matthew 5:48. 

"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Some commentators attempt to minimize the impact of this statement by saying that the word "perfect" means "mature" or "complete," so they imply that this somehow means something other than an imperative that we are to actually aspire to be perfectly righteous.  But, in fact, that standard is God's nature, and as we have read in Psalms 145:17, God is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His ways.  So, if we are to be "perfect," or "mature," just as our heavenly Father is "perfect" or "mature," then we should also be as righteous and kind as God is.  We now, that is a very tall order indeed.  In fact, that standard is perfection.  And we shall see that we all fall short of that standard.  In fact, if it were not for God's grace through Christ, we would indeed have no hope of standing before God on the basis of our deeds.  If we fail, even in one point of God's righteous standard, then we are condemned and deserving of righteous condemnation.

It is important to know God's love, but also to understand God's standards for behavior.  Without that understanding, we would not understand why we are in need of a Savior.