Be merciful and perfect as your heavenly Father is merciful and perfect.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48
I am not particularly fond of any passage that talks about how I am to do or be anything at the same standard that God does or is. Those commands make it quite clear that they are impossible to obey. That is the point. In our own ability, these commands are impossible to follow. These can only be obeyed as we are walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. They can only be followed if Jesus resurrected life is being demonstrated in our (spiritually) crucified bodies. We must not be satisfied with being better than we were yesterday. Anything short of God’s perfect standard needs to result in a holy dissatisfaction. We are to be merciful to the same extent God is. We need to be perfect as God is.
