A Measure of Faith – Part 4
July 1, 2001
Dear Friends,
In what will be our last installment on the topic of a measure of faith, we hope to look at the standard for measurement. Last week, we looked at the spectrum of morality from very evil straight through to very good. We suggested that undertanding our measure of faith is to know what evil deeds we have permanently put behind us and seeing to what new levels of good our faith can propel us. Life then becomes a process of transforming ourselves to be more like Jesus.
The key measure then by which we measure ourselves is the Lord Jesus Christ. His perfect example, is not only one of walk, but one of faith. His perfect faith begat his perfect walk. His faith granted him the liberty to heal on the Sabbath, overturn the tables of the moneychangers, label the Pharisees as fools and hypocrites and eat with Publicans and sinners. For many of those around him, they saw evil in his deeds. Their measure of faith was so lacking that they could not see the Son of God in front of their face.
Part of our process of self examination is looking at our measure of faith in light of Christ. If we fail to do so, we are calibrating our measure against an untrue standard. “We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another, and compare themselves with one another, they do not show good sense.”
It is part of human nature to compare ourselves to others. We want not only to fit in, but to exceed the norm. We tell ourselves that what matters is not that am I the best that I can be, but that I am a little bit better than you.
Faith can be that way too. Religious organizations tend to follow certain communal norms or attributes that determine “success.” Success can be defined as charitable contributions, attendance at various functions, a highly visible position, extensive knowledge or any of a hundred other possibilities. When these success factors, typically unspoken, are accepted, we tend to measure ourselves against ourselves.
Jesus turned this on its head in several instances. “And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury: and he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all.” (Luke 21:1-3) The men around him had picked the measure of faith in terms of dollars. Jesus looked at the heart.
In setting a false measure, we not only can fool others, but more importantly fool ourselves. We can put ourselves in situations our faith cannot handle. We can sit on our hands when we have the faith to do much greater works than what we are presently engaged in. We can think we are doing God’s will when in fact we are squandering our talents on the things of the flesh.
Sizing ourselves up is not an easy task. We have many tools at our disposal to do so including prayer and the Scriptures to help us “to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
Have a great week!
Comments»
No comments yet.