Setting a Standard

One evening as I was putting together a recipe for some brownies, I thought about my dear mom who passed away last year.  She loved baking, as I do.  She taught me how to bake, and I thought about all the many many other things she taught me from a child.  In fact, she not only taught me how to do many practical things like baking and sewing, she taught me how to treat others with kindness, and be polite, and honest, respect your elders, be courteous, and many other excellent qualities that I would like to and try hard to live up to.  She wasn't one for just casually talking about it, she demonstrated what she was teaching me, and she set an example for me.  I can't remember her wavering in her convictions either, all the while unconditionally loving me and continuously encouraging me in every single thing I did no matter what it was.  I have no memory of her ever being critical if I failed at something.  And so with great patience she taught me, and I realize today that what she was doing was set very high standards for me because she wanted to see me succeed at whatever I attempted in life.  With everything I wrote or drew as an art piece, for example, she cheered me on, and so I just kept it up and today I am a full time writer and artist, two things that I had always wanted to be.  I write and publish e-books, and I sell or donate my paintings.

Now I am also a teacher, so I have been able to do for others what my mom had always done for me -- teach, help, facilitate, encourage and celebrate someone else's learning experience.  As a teacher, I try to set the same high standards for my students.  And the trick about setting a standard is that a person will usually only go as high as the standard you set for them.  If you say, "Reach for a C+," then they will likely not go beyond that.  But if you say, "Reach for an A+ with Honors," they will reach much higher than a C+.  As I was thinking about setting standards, I thought about God and the kind of standards He has set in place for all of us.  And wow! They are set so high that we can't possibly reach them without His help!  What are God's standards?  Well, although we know that He loves us unconditionally, He will not tolerate sin because of what it does to us. Sin corrupts everything and it literally kills us.

Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So when we receive the gift of God (salvation), He wipes our sins away, and now we have reached His high standard through receiving Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. It is that simple!  Then after this, He tells us how we should live as new creations in Christ.  Once again, He sets the standard so high that we need to consult Him every single day and in every single situation to find out what we are to do, and all of our answers are found in His Word. He has promised to teach us all that we need to know!  Simple again!

Many people think that God wants us to do good works.  Yes He does, but we must be careful that we don't just do the good works we drum up in our own mind.  These may not be what God is wanting us to do!  If we look at the following Scriptures, we can see what God does NOT want from us (our own good works), and at the same time we find the kind of standards God has set for us:

Mic 6:6  Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?

Mic 6:7  Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

Mic 6:8  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

And then of course, He gave us the most important commandments:

Mat 22:36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment.

Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

As I am writing this, another thought comes to mind.  In Canada, we are days away from voting in a federal election.  As a Political Studies student, I have studied the backgrounds of the parties in question, and one must be extra diligent to go beyond their platform of pre-election promises.  What lies beneath their promises and what is their core historical foundation?  As a Christian, I look at how closely a political party comes to Christian values and ethics.  Do they support human life on all levels (please note that the parties to the left will not support pro-life and will support euthanasia)? Are they transparent?  Do they support Israel?  Do they support the elderly, fatherless and widows? Do they know how to balance a budget?  Do they encourage and support small businesses?  If not, then huge amounts of tax dollars will go to civil servants and unions, and are all these promised jobs necessary and are they all really effective?  There are many important issues to consider.  What kind of standard are they living by, and is it high enough that you would trust them to run the country, and do well with your tax dollars?

 

Setting a standard is paramount to any success in life.  Perhaps today you would like to set a new standard for yourself.  To begin, if you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, this is the ultimate new beginning for you.  If you would like to live according to God's standard for you, which is without question the best and custom made just for you, please go to this link, which will guide you into taking this most important step in your life.  Perhaps you are already a born-again Bible-believing Christian, but you have let down your standards.  You are not living according to the way you know you should.  It is never too late to turn your life around.  All it takes is dialogue with God, and getting into His Word (which you can find for free online - try this link).  Another strong suggestion is to find a good solid Bible-believing church and get to know others who walk the walk of faith.  Above all, remember that God loves you and me unconditionally whether we reach the bar or whether we keep failing.  The important thing is to know Jesus personally, and He will help us every single step of the way to succeed through everything in life.