Our Lord is consistent and proclaims that He changes not (Malachi 3:6). He is a God of standard.
Once, I was trying to work out this concept in my mind and began to envision a chin-up bar. The chin-up bar is a metal bar supported by two perpendicular bars. Chin-ups are exercises designed to condition the body. You must raise your arms and grab the bar, lifting your body and bringing your chin up over the bar. If you are not physically fit, it can take a lot of work and effort even to do one chin up! The bar cannot be lowered to meet your chin you – have to strive to bring your chin to meet it. And while it would be nice if we could just lower the bar and accomplish the same results, unfortunately this is not the case. The standard is set and we must conform to it. It will not conform to us. If the bar is lowered it will not profit the body.
God is the same way. He sets the standard and we must conform to meet it. He will not lower the standard for us; we have to strive to achieve it. But unlike the chin-up bar, we are not left alone trying to accomplish this task by ourselves. Our Lord is always there to help us. He encourages us when we feel we have failed. He presses us to continue to make the effort to achieve the standard. And when we meet God’s standard, He conditions us and pushes us to reach far beyond what we think we are capable of attaining. So I encourage you to endeavor to meet the standard.