Weekend Nugget

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:12 about the type of people who think that the best measuring stick for themselves is other people. Paul goes on to say that when they use each other as a measure of spirituality or of gospel maturity, they “are not wise.” You see, when we compare ourselves to others to find our level of spirituality, we almost always do so in a biased way. The one who is mildly spiritual will compare himself to the one who is barely spiritual, and the one who is barely spiritual will compare himself to the one who is carnal and worldly. The one who is worldly and carnal goes one step further and plays the “at least I’m not as bad as Hitler” card. This “I’m better than you” game is exhausting and completely foolish. When God looks down from heaven, he doesn’t give a letter grade. He’s a pass/fail kind of God. He has a standard of perfection, and He holds all of us up to that standard. He doesn’t put us in order from tallest to shortest and pick the top five tallest. No, He looks and sees us next to the pass/fail scale. The sad thing is, all of us fail. According to Romans 3:23, we all have fallen short of God’s standard. But that is not the end. Just because we failed the semester grade, doesn’t mean that we failed the eternal grade. The point of the gospel is that we fail, but that Jesus doesn’t. And that if we rely on His work, and not our own, we don’t have to worry about our failing grade, because God will pass us based on Jesus, not based on ourselves. A crucial part of the gospel is that we compare ourselves to God’s standard, not to other people who have already failed. A key to being able to trust Christ and the work He has done for us. We have committed the most epic fail, but Jesus has saved us from that failure and given us a new hope and eternal life.

Food For Thought: Why is it unwise to compare ourselves among ourselves?