Nothing Is Perfect…

"Nothing is perfect." I heard Robin speak those words to one of the kids early in our recent vacation. We were on the road, on our first day, and something had happened which in the child's view wasn't quite right. I have no idea today what it was and I agree with the words Robin spoke at the time, with one exception.

As Robin spoke some wheels spun inside my head, bringing up this phrase from somewhere in the Bible: "The word of the Lord is perfect." Turns out the among the many imperfect things is my memory, because what the first phrase of Psalm 19:7 actually says is this:

"The law of the Lord is perfect"

I believe that the law that David had in mind as he wrote this psalm was God's moral law, or what God has declared to  be right-and-wrong, from his point-of-view, which in the Old Testament is best summarized in the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments. You shall not this. You shall not that. On and on. Boring. Not relevant today. We are more advanced than those folks were. 

Or so many people today might have us believe. And not just today. The Bible shows the Ten Commandments being broken almost as soon as they had been given.

The truth is God's law teaches us how to live with God and how to live with other people. It teaches us from God's point-of-view, in God's own words. It is a teaching that is timeless.

The greater storyline of the Bible would also show us that there was no single person besides Jesus who perfectly kept God's perfect law. Not Adam. Not Moses. Not David. Not Daniel. Not John the Baptist. Not Peter. Not Paul. Nor any of the many other lesser characters in the Bible's pages that we would rightly look towards as heroes of the faith.

But the fact that Jesus kept the law perfectly is exactly what we need, for when we look to him and believe that he is our Savior, our sin is removed and God sees us as if we had kept the law, even though the truth is that we still break it each day.

The law of God still has a purpose for Christians. Not to condemn us as sinners, but to show us the great love of our Savior in keeping it on our behalf. God's perfect law stands before us, inviting us to do our best in keeping it each day, not to earn God's favor, but in gratitude for what Christ has done for us.

The imperfections of my daily life are many. The picture shows one example, where I recently tried to close the hood of our van without moving the arm the held it open.

God's law is perfect, as was the work done by Jesus in keeping it on my behalf. Not only is God's law perfect, but so is the love of Jesus for all of those who have faith in him. May you live today resting in the law that he kept for you.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.