Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,
    who walk according to the law of the Lord.
Blessed are those who keep his statutes
    and seek him with all their heart—
they do no wrong
    but follow his ways.

Psalm 119:1-3

It seems reasonably certain that a person who walks according to the law of the Lord, who is blameless, who keeps all of the Lord’s statutes and seeks Him with their whole heart, following His ways always, is a very blessed person. The only thing is that I’ve never met that guy, who can keep all of God’s Law, for hasn’t everyone sinned and fallen short of that mark?

Now that I am actually thinking about it, I’m not quite sure what that would even look like. I’ve always heard that there was only one Person who ever managed it; isn’t that what you’ve heard?

As I continue to struggle with this thought it occurred to me that the one Person who managed to keep all of the laws and remain entirely blameless, Jesus Christ, might have something to say on the matter, so I began to search, and here is what I found:

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 7:12

All of the Law and all of the teachings of the prophets come down to a one-liner: So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.

I was taught that as a child, yet maybe I didn’t take it as seriously as I should have. Instead, maybe I just heard a platitude, not something real or practical. I’m thinking that might have happened because when we speak of the “Golden Rule” we don’t finish it; we leave off: for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

We don’t need to memorize a list of the 613 Laws of Moses and then try to keep each one, killing ourselves in the process. Rather, we need to treat others the way we want to be treated. That might be easier to say than it is to always do, but at least I can get my head around it.

It will require me to be intentional about it, however.

So, maybe I won’t always be completely perfect, but I can do better than I have before, especially if I ask God for His guidance and strength. Yes, I am fallible, but when I slip the Bible teaches us what to do:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1John 1:9

God will forgive us our shortcomings and we will be blameless in His sight, and if enough of us are intentional in our efforts, with God’s help, just think of what God can do in our world.