What is that standard? As God worked with Abraham, He told him, "Walk before Me and be blameless" (Genesis 17:1). The old King James Version uses a more interesting meaning of the Hebrew word and translates the verse this way: "Walk before me, and be thou perfect." Wow! When God sets the bar, He sets it high, doesn't He? All He asks of us is to be perfect.

While it would be easy to be overwhelmed by the impossibility of that instruction, God looks at it differently. First of all, with Him all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). Second, there is a deeper meaning to that Hebrew word in Genesis 17:1. The word is tamiym, which can also mean complete, whole, entire, without blemish or undefiled.

This is the same word God used when He instructed Israel in the sacrifices. They were to bring an animal without blemish (tamiym). It is the same word used when God was speaking to Satan about Job— "There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man" (Job 1:8; 2:3)—and the same word Solomon used in Proverbs 11:20, "Those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the Lord, but the blameless in their ways are His delight."

God is not talking about being sinless—although that is ultimately where He wants us to be (Philippians 2:5; Hebrews 4:15). God is seeking a people whose hearts seek after Him. This comes from living by His standard daily and consistently so that our human nature begins to be replaced by God's Holy Spirit dwelling in us (Romans 8:7-9). God wants us to come out of the world around us and to be complete in Him, wholly focused on His way of life.

God gives us every opportunity and assistance in order to help us achieve His standard of being blameless when we ask Him. Let us follow the perfect example of Christ and "walk before [God] and be blameless." UN