I’ll do what is right for me is a famous saying that many people we know have used. I know I have heard it several times in my life. It is usually used when someone disagrees with you about how something should be done, and what actions are appropriate. Sometimes it is used when changing careers, or changing spouses. There are many situations it comes up.
We live in a society where standards are disappearing. You cannot even get a grade is schools anymore. You participate or not. You don’t pass or fail. People decide for themselves how to act given the situation. Even standards of behaviour have gone out the window. Growing up you never swore around women or children. Now days even the kids are talking like sailors.
Working as a scale technician I have come to appreciate the value of a standard. Every day I find myself looking at a scale which people say works correctly. And until I place my standards on the scale I could believe them. Without having a standard to compare ourselves to we will never know if we are meeting the mark or missing it completely. GPS has become a valuable tool for all of us. It gives us direction and allows us to see where we are compared to where we think we are. Standards are everywhere in our society. We just neglect to use them when it comes to our personal lives.
Christians have gotten a lot of bad press over the years because of this very thing. We have often missed the mark and without having a standard to guide us we have never known. Christians have become some of the most bitter, judgemental and critical people around. I know people who will not hire Christians because they cause the most trouble, do the least work, and complain and steal from the company. We have completely missed our standard and done what we thought was right. We speak out vocally against what we see is wrong in our society, and usually completely ignore what is wrong with us. We have changed our tune to meet what we thought society wanted. We have worked hard at being accepted the we have lost influence. And it is because we have lost our standard.
A standard can never be changed. It can never be disagreed with. Our situation has to measure up the the standard, not the standard to our situation. When I find a scale that doesn’t match my test standards, I don’t question the correctness of the standard. I adjust and repair the scale to meet the standard I have placed on it. And it is much the same with us as Christians. We have lost our standard over the years and have gone down many paths that God never intended us to. It has spread division and spawned fights that have separated families, broken homes, and destroyed lives. And it doesn’t sound like the church Jesus had in mind.
Jesus left us with one standard to follow. And if we do it right we will fulfill every command that He gave us, and we will become who He called us to be. Jesus said in John 13:34-35 “34 So I give you a new command: Love each other deeply and fully. Remember the ways that I have loved you, and demonstrate your love for others in those same ways. 35 Everyone will know you as My followers if you demonstrate your love to others.”
The Voice (VOICE)
We can become all that God calls us to if we actually align ourselves with the standard Jesus left for us. For most of us that will me a recalibration of our values and thought. But that is ok because that is what God is best at. We don’t work up our ability to love we receive it. 1John 4:19 “We love because He has first loved us.” We need to plug in again to our source, recognize our need to be recalibrated and then we can spread the love God has for the world.
The Blog of Tom Sanders 