Good morning,
Last week I had a brief appointment with Dr. Hendricks about everyone’s favorite procedure: a colonoscopy. I am on a three-year “recall” for this procedure and the time had come plan for the next one. However, Charlie told me that the “standard has changed” and that now the recommendation is to have the procedure done every five years, so he will have his office contact me in a couple years. You can imagine how very disappointed I was to hear this. I almost cried as I left his office J. Why did the standard change? I’m not really sure. Perhaps there is some science behind it, or some kind of experience that showed that having it done every three years didn’t produce any better results than having it done every five years. Or maybe insurance companies want to spend less money and prefer to see it done less often. I am not certain. But I do know that I didn’t mind one bit that the standard had been changed.
It seems like this world has ever-changing standards for just about everything. And the trend – like my colonoscopy – is to make life easier or less expensive or more to our liking. It seems easier to drop standards in life than to raise them. If Charlie had told me the standard was being moved to once every two years or once a year, I would have groaned and, no doubt, complained. Perhaps it is natural for us to dislike it when standards get higher or harder. For us, easier is better.
Compare this to God, whose standards never change. Any standard of God – such as the 10 Commandments or anything else in the Bible – are the same as they were 2, 200, or 2000 years ago. We can always count on knowing where God stands. He doesn’t lower His standards for any reason – especially to make it “easier” for us. And this is good news. Why? Because He doesn’t present us with a moving target. He’s always consistent and we can know not only what He wants or expects, but also how He will respond to us in any given situation or circumstance. For example, God’s standard for truth is just as true for the workplace as it is for the family home… as it is for the elected official… and as it is for the media. God does not possess nor does He advocate double-standards: one level of responsibility for one person and a different level of responsibility for another. God is “true” and consistent in all things.
I find that in life – when I fall short of God’s standards – that it is easy to make excuses or to become fearful of God or fearful of disappointing Him. Sometimes I feel like the more I try to “press on to perfection” (Philippians 3) I become more and more aware of just how hard (impossible, actually) it is. And people I have known – teachers and leaders in the Gospel – have shared similar experiences. The closer they felt they were coming to holiness, the more they had a sense of their sin and their need before God.
Thank God for Jesus His Son. Jesus met all of the unchanging standards of God without failing in even the smallest way. And – praise God – I am “in” Jesus by virtue of the salvation He has given me by grace. Through faith I have received His merit: everything Jesus “earned” is mine through His death on the cross. When you have missed God’s standards in any way, turn to Christ. Find forgiveness in Him. Find deliverance from guilt and shame. In Him find wholeness and peace, because He has met the standard for you.
Malachi 3:6-7 (NIV) - 6 "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty. "But you ask, 'How are we to return?'…
James 1:17 (NIV) - 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NIV) - 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time.
PRAYER: “Father, thank You for Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Thank You that I can rest in Him and benefit from His perfect sacrifice of love for me on the cross. Forgive me when I “miss the mark”. Thank You that He never did, and that His blood covers me. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”
NOTES OF INTEREST / REMINDERS…
- Congratulations to Mike and Megan Updegraff on the birth of their third child – Matthias Eli, born on January 22, 2013. May God bless Matthias, his parents, and his brother and sister McGarry and Molly.
- Dyer Merchant spoke to me Sunday, asking if I knew of anyone who needed any work done (for hire) or of any jobs he might be able to consider. I told him I didn’t off the top of my head, but that I would pass the word. If you know of anyone who might be looking for some help or had some work to offer, please let me know so that I can pass it on to him. Thanks.
- The church has a new website. It’s the same address – www.fbcbarharbor.com – but has a new design. This coming Sunday morning, at about 10:15 a.m., Adrian will be presenting an overview of it on the sanctuary screen. Of course, you can look it over and use it anytime now. We hope you will use it and that it will be a tool for the church and for the Lord in our ministry. If you have questions or suggestions, please direct them to myself or Adrian. We both realize there may be features or ideas that would be helpful to add to the site. Your input would be valuable.
Jesus Christ is Lord!
Scott
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