My Standards Vs God’s Standards
Sometimes, depending on how we are wired, we might mix up our standards with God’s standards. Let me give you an example. God’s standard in a nutshell is, love God with everything and love your neighbor as yourself. Of course that plays out in a number of ways throughout our life but at the end of the day that's God’s ultimate standard.
Then there is my standard. I usually get up in the morning somewhere between 6 and 7. If I sleep beyond 7 I get ticked off at myself. Bear in mind that I have not sinned but according to my Steve Bombaci standard I feel like I have. If I fail to do a workout I feel like I have let God and myself down. If I eat junk food I feel like a sinner. If I’m late for a meeting or an appointment I beat myself up and feel very sinful. Of course if I lived in Hawaii I could be late all the time because that’s acceptable in Hawaii. Have you heard of Hawaiian time?
Maybe for you it's about the condition of your house. There used to be this saying, “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” The Bible doesn’t actually say that but for some people it might as well. They feel guilty if their house doesn’t meet a particular standard and only they know what that is.
Do you see what I’m getting at? We have our standards and God has his and sometimes we get them mixed up. The important thing is to prioritize God’s standards over our own.
If I oversleep and act grumpy towards people, oversleeping is not a sin but treating people badly is. If I go to a friend's house and they roll out junk food for dinner, do I prefer my standard over God’s by rudely judging them for offering me food I consider unacceptable? What would Jesus do? I think he would eat the junk food and pray over it. We sometimes have traditions we equate with God’s standards when in fact it’s a family tradition passed down to us. How about religious traditions like how we dress for church or how we cut or don’t cut our hair?
Currently we are doing a sermon series in the book of Colossians. This week we are going to tackle some of these ideas. My goal is to help us get clarity about God's standards and our standards. I hope you will join us.
Stay close to Jesus,
Steve