God's Standard

3/11/18            Anthony       video        early 20's

I met a likeable young man named Anthony at the grocery store, who was confident and willing to talk about his relationship with God.  I believe his confidence comes from several sources: a solid family background; his Catholic church and school upbringing; his strong moral awareness; and the ability to self-reflect.

Anthony felt very confident that God sees his heart and good intentions, and that he is, basically, a highly-qualified candidate for the kingdom of heaven.

One thing Anthony hasn’t been doing, however, is spending time in God’s word to see things from God’s point of view.  James 1 compares God’s word, specifically His law, to a mirror, saying “…whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”  Anthony needs to look into the Bible like a mirror, to see himself as he really is.  He also needs to look into the Bible  like a window, to see God as He really is.

Over a fairly long conversation there at the grocery store, I tried to emphasize the importance of the Bible, because without it one’s only standard of comparison is other people.  By that standard, Anthony believes himself to be in God’s good graces.  

But what about God’s standard?  What does the “mirror” show?  I asked Anthony “Have you lied?  Stolen?  Used God’s holy name disrespectfully?”  

In the Sermon on the Mount, (Matt 5) Jesus said “…anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”   

Jesus went on to say… “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Our sin involves not only the letter of God’s law in our actions, but the spirit of God’s law in our words and thoughts as well.  In addition, James 4 tells us sin also involves our failure to do good when we should:   “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”  

This all adds up to a very different standard than the one Anthony had been measuring himself by.  I wanted him to judge himself by the standard of God’s law, so that he could see his need to trust in Christ rather than by his own standard and his own perceived goodness.  

I tried to get this across in several ways during our conversation, but as far as I could tell, Anthony kept returning to his own human standard.  He seemed to sub-consciously ignore that which didn’t fit within his paradigm, agreeing with me about God’s standard in theory but returning to a human standard in practice.   

My prayer for Anthony is that God’s law will accomplish the purpose for which it is intended: “…that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world (including Anthony) held accountable to God.”  

 

May Anthony then understand at the heart level that “…no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”   (Romans 3) 

May he turn from trusting in his own goodness and see afresh his need for the Savior.

See our conversation here