Measuring Ourselves With a Broken Ruler

In women's Bible study, we recently discussed I Peter: 1:13-21. Much of this passage discusses God's holiness and the standard He sets in perfection. Indeed, this standard is perfect and flawless because that is what He desires in us.

"Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope
fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 As obedient
children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in
ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
16 for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" I Peter 1:13-16

We know that we can never be perfect people here on earth because of the sinful body that envelops us. However, we are FREE from the bondage of sin when we become Christians and followers of Christ. We don't have to sin, but because of our flesh, we will make wrong choices. That is why we need God's past, present and future forgiveness. Despite this, we are not given an excuse or license to sin. God still expects us to get ready for battle against sin! There is a common metaphor of weaponry and armor found in God's Word. In obedience and thankfulness for our salvation, we should strive and FIGHT for perfect holiness.

"You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as
you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to
ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness
leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control
of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things
you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you
have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap
leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life." Ro 6:18-22

In reading these passages, it is clear that God has a standard from which we are to measure ourselves. It is His perfect holiness.

How often, instead of looking at the perfect measurement, we take out broken rulers in order to make our fight easier or to make ourselves look better. The broken rulers are the people around us--believers and non-believers. Before we sometimes confess and repent of a sin, we can be prone to denying it or ignoring its importance. We say to ourselves, "Yes, perhaps I did tell a white lie to my friend, but at least I'm not cheating on my taxes like so and so." "Okay, I lost my temper with my son, but thank goodness I'm not throwing swear words into my conversation with my family like so and so." "Well, I didn't clean the house like my husband asked, but at least I cook dinners, unlike so and so." We are allowing pride to enter our thoughts and hearts, and we are not recognizing the fact that all sin causes us to fall short of the holy standard for which we are aiming. There is no sliding scale of sin in God's eyes. Don't let the world's mistaken "works philosophy" lead you to thinking you are basically a good person overall.

In addition to pridefully dismissing sin, we get lazy in our sanctification as Christians. We are to be getting closer and closer in our behavior to God as we walk through our lives as His adopted children. The holy standard is to keep us motivated and aware of where we need to work on gaining righteousness. We lose incentive when we compare ourselves to other Christians, rather than the example of Christ. We say, "I am doing such a good job in quiet time! I only missed one day of Bible reading, and so and so only completed one day of quiet time in God's Word." (Here you can almost hear the sound of patting oneself on the back). Instead of feeling repentance for missing that one day of Bible study or doing Bible study with wrong priorities or feelings, we pridefully dismiss ourselves as "mature" in that area because we are doing better than another soldier in the battle of sin. Another example is "I don't really have a problem with my tongue. I don't swear, yell at my family or gossip about friends. I might have talked about so and so with "Mary" this morning, but "Mary" is a Bible study leader, so it must have not been gossip." We allow certain behaviors because we see other Christians doing them, mature or not mature in their walk, and we don't check the behavior against what God desires. Remember we are all sinful and no person, besides Christ, is above making mistakes or disobeying God's will and truth.

We must toss the broken rulers that inaccurately measure our righteousness. Turn only to the Word of God and His holy standard. If we are honest with ourselves, we all have a lot of growing and maturing to do!

But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love
your salvation always say,
“The Lord be exalted!” Psalm 40:16