Are you faced with double standards? I am. Do you have double standards? I do. Why is it that we have double standards? Is it bad to have a double standard? Does having only one standard bring you hope? It does me. Let me share with you about understanding how a single standard brings me hope.
As I look around the world, I observe double standards all over the place. There is a different standard for ethnicities, for men and women for liberals and conservatives, and for young and old. There is a even a different standard for Christians and non-Christians.
Let me give you some double standards I have been seeing lately. There is the Congressman who lied about himself during his campaign, this is wrong, and some people are outraged and believed he should have resigned. If this was a standard, then almost every elected official would have to resign because almost every one of them have lied during their campaigns. Which one of them have promised us something that they have not done?
The recent civil unrest that occurred since the tragic murder of George Floyd of burned down police stations, post offices and other buildings according to some need to be treated differently because of their disenfranchisement. Some political leaders even condoned their activities. Most of those committing crimes during these events were never prosecuted. Then there was the civil unrest at the United States Capital on January 6, 2021. Most of the people there were disenfranchised as well because they honestly believed the presidential election was not legitimate. Some political leaders even condoned their activities and others condemned their activities. I see two different standards.
There even seems to be different standard for how Christians are to approach those who are sinning. The standard for the non-Christian is not to judge what they have done or are doing, but to be approachable to them and share the Gospel with them so they might be saved. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Matthew 5:43-44 (ESV). Jesus talks to us about a different standard for the treatment of believers in Matthew 18:15-18, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (ESV) Paul also describes the practice of disciplining a believer in 1 Corinthians 5.
I, however, find that there is really only one standard that truly matters and I believe that it brings me hope. The standard I am talking about is the standard that God has for all of us. God standard is to be holy like He is holy. God does not grade on a curve. He does not grade based on whether you are male or female, Jew or Gentile, management or worker, our political viewpoints, our age, or any other way we separate ourselves in the world. God grades us on is whether we are holy (perfectly obedient to God). How are you doing? I know I am not perfectly obedient to God, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23. (ESV) I have found out that even though I have not been perfectly obedient to God, He sees me as holy or perfect. You may ask how that can be. It is because God looks at me through the lens of His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ who died upon a cross to take away my sins and make me holy because Jesus is holy. You also can pass God’s test for perfection by accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.
I pray you will join me in living in the light of God’s one standard. I pray you will join me in living in obedience to God’s one standard. I pray if you have not already repented of your sin that you will now. It is through a relationship with God through Jesus that solves the problem of sin and brings us hope in the present and the future. I would also encourage you to seek Jesus for He is the only opportunity there is to have eternal life. This is to me the greatest source of hope. In doing so, I believe we will have hope and joy during our everyday lives. Understanding that Jesus Christ allows us to access eternal life, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3 (ESV) This will allow us to have hope. At the same time understanding you will live eternally knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ and this will bring you the greatest hope. Because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfied the penalty for sins. His payment satisfies all my sins from the past, the present and in the future. My penalty and yours was satisfied on the cross by the death of Jesus, God’s greatest act of love and wrath, who became sin for me and you. It was also God’s greatest act of faithfulness because “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV) Because holiness shows us, we need to believe in Jesus. I hope that you join me in helping others to choose Jesus.
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