That’s a
universal sentiment. “In the grand
scheme of things, what I’m doing isn’t that bad.” We compare whatever it is we’re doing to what
we see others doing. That little trick
starts all the way back in Little Kid World.
Mom asks, “How did you do on your test today?” and little Junior
replies, “ummm…well…I…uhhh…I got a…uhhh…64.” And Mom flips out yelling, “A
SIXTY FOUR?!” At which point, little
Junior immediately blurts out “well everybody else did worse! I was the second highest grade in the
class!!” But what little Junior doesn’t
realize is regardless of how it stacks up with the rest of the class, a 64 is
never good. The teacher knows what she
taught. The teacher has been watching
how the students are working, and she knows when she thinks they’re ready. She’s set the standard. And the expected level of complete achievement
based on her standards is 100%. So when
you pull down a 64, then it really doesn’t matter if everyone else is
worse. A 64 is just bad.
God has set a
standard for us. And no, it’s not
100%...the Old Testament proved that He can’t expect 100% from us. But God’s standard is called being Holy. Be holy because He is holy (Leviticus 11:45,
Levitcus 19:2, Leviticus 20:7, then Peter quotes it in 1 Peter 1:16). We can’t get close to God without it. The Old Testament had an extensive list of
rules concerning being holy. Lots of
rules and consequences…and blood. Lots
of animal sacrifices were required to pay the penalty of sin. Something had to die. You placed your sins on the animal, you
offered your repentance and the animal was sacrificed to God. Then Jesus comes to the world to be the ultimate
sacrifice. Jesus comes to do the work
that no animal could do. To permanently
take away sin. One sacrifice offered for
all sins, and in that sacrifice enabled all men to be holy (Hebrews 10:10). Well, other than the sacrificing of yourself
that you have to do. We don’t like to
hear that part, but it’s part of the deal.
Jesus took our sins upon Himself, and we have to take up His yoke. And what does that mean? Love God with everything you are. And then love everyone else as you love
yourself. Full self-sacrifice to Jesus
Christ. Love God first with all that you
are. Love everyone else like Jesus did,
and commanded us to do in Matthew 25.
Feed the hungry. Clothe the
naked. Visit those in prison (ooh, don’t
like that one either, do we?)
But we’re still
looking around us and pulling the little Junior stunt. “I’m not as bad as that guy. What I’m doing isn’t as bad as the guy at
work. I haven’t killed anyone. I haven’t cheated any old ladies out their
retirement. I haven’t kidnapped
anyone. I haven’t abused my children.” And Jesus says (like in Revelation) “that’s
good, but here’s what I have against you.”
And there’s a scroll unrolled before you with a whole different list of
what you’ve missed. You hate your
coworker. You know you’re not giving
enough but can’t bring yourself to change it.
You complain about something you saw someone do to everyone except to the person you saw do whatever
it was. You put football or money or
cars or yourself in God’s throne – and you love those things with far more of
your heart, soul, mind, and strength than you love God. You clutter up the world that God entrusted
to us with litter. You sit in church on
Sunday mornings and judge people that come forward based on if you think they
really mean it. Basically the laundry
list that we would all call “minor offenses”.
Except that God
has set the standard. And the standard
is holiness. It’s an all or nothing game
(and thank you for grace that bridges that gap quite a lot). But it’s not a “well, I got a 64, but I was
still the second highest grade in the class!”
It’s self-sacrifice. It’s
separating sheep from goats. Did you
proclaim Jesus Christ as the king of your life?
Did you do as He commanded and feed his sheep? Not just the sheep on the corner in the dirty
jeans and scraggly beard that needs food…but the sheep that have never heard
the gospel? The deeds earn you nothing,
let’s not make that mistake. Feeding
sheep is NOT earning salvation. But just
like getting a 100% means you studied and understood the material, feeding the
sheep and treating others as though you were doing it for Jesus shows that you
understand what you were taught. Listen
for the Whisper that says until you “get it”, you just don’t get it. It’s not being better or worse than everyone
else. “All have sinned and fallen short
of the glory of God.” If all your
friends jumped off a bridge, would you?
Or would you pick a bridge that just wasn’t as tall to jump off of and
then claim you weren’t as stupid as little Junior.
Stop comparing yourself to others. It doesn’t matter what the other guy did…that’s between him and God. You’ve heard THAT before too! “Well little Junior gets to watch Rated R movies!” And what did your parents say? “That’s between little Junior and his parents. I’m YOUR mom, and I said you weren’t going to do it.” As a personal aside, I added the “mom” there because I would usually only argue my case with mom. Dad laid down the law, and there wasn’t much debate about it after that.
And in our case,
God laid down the law, and there’s not anything left to debate after that. The penalty of sin is death. The way out is accepting Jesus and His
commands. If you decide to live by the
world’s standards, then you are judged as the world is judged. And when it comes time to separate the sheep
from the goats, you may very well find yourself in the goat pen trying to argue
the point that you’re the best goat in the goat pen. Might be a goat bragging about how much you
acted like a sheep from time to time. But
being the best goat in the goat pen, doesn’t make you a sheep. Quit worrying about what everyone else is
doing and how your actions stack up to theirs.
Worry about doing what God has told you to do, and everything else will
take care of itself. And while you’re
worrying about you, make sure that (like the onceler) you’re not steadily
sneaking one toe at a time past where you know your Christian behavior limits out
to be. You know where God’s drawn the
line, but we all treat it like the speed limit and try fudge a little bit
farther and farther over. And then when
we get pulled over we point to the Corvette that was running even faster than
we were. It’s not a matter of asking if
you’re better or worse than that other guy – it’s a matter of asking “am I
doing what Jesus told me to do as a Christian”.
And only you and God can truthfully answer that one.
~Dwayne
ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net
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