musings on a standard

i won't even bore you with all the time-sapping details that have crammed my daily schedule...so suffice it to say, my reading on "heaven" has been postponed. not indefinitely...it at least sits near the top of a growing pile of must-read material. but the immediacy of 2 other books somehow topped the priority rankings. it'll come...

but let me share with you a simple concept that's been impacting me. (you may have noticed that most impacting concepts that i've shared are really just simple truths pretty basic and elementary to following Jesus...i guess it just takes me a little while)

be holy.

be holy because I am holy.

i've thought about that statement God makes in 1 peter 1:16 in light of the standards that i usually place on myself. to be perfectly honest, i don't like that standard. the bar seems too high (obviously). it doesn't seem fair.

why not let the standard be set according to the playing field. i mean, this is kinda how it works in a lot of areas of life. the sports analogy comes to my mind first, seeing as this is the best season of the year (football...or fall as it is commonly known). when i wake up monday morning i look forward to checking in with my good buddies at ESPN for a fresh batch of college football rankings. well, usually i look forward to it. lately i've had to actually scroll down the page to find ohio state, which is a new experience for me. but what strikes me is that the standard for what makes the top 25 teams in the nation "the top 25" is the playing field. they measure everyone by the standard of everyone else. i noticed they don't measure college football teams by the same standard they use to rank NFL teams.

there's a concept for ya...

what if college, high school or even peewee football teams were suddenly judged and measured by the same standard and criteria that they judge the indianapolis colts or the cleveland browns? puts a difference perspective on a 12 year-old's undefeated season. that's not fair, is it?

that's about what i feel for God's standard of holiness.

couldn't You just analyze my performance based my playing field? isn't it enough to look around and see that i'm at least above average compared to the rest of the world around me. i mean, have You seen my friends? have You seen most people my age? wouldn't You say, God, that i've gone the extra mile? not only do i go to church, but i'm in Your Word daily, praying to You, using my gifts to serve YOU, loving other people, leading my family...

it's a pretty sorry mentality, i know. but don't we so often set our own measuring stick based on everyone else around us?

God commands us to be holy. to be different. His measuring stick is unattainable. and He knows that. He knows that we need Him...and we always will.

this realization should make us all the more thankful for the righteousness of Jesus. and for the truth that "His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness" (2 peter 1:3). so the bar is set high. higher than i can reach on my own. i've got a ways to go, but i'm strengthened by a perfect Savior.