I’ll be honest! I haven’t always measured myself by the right standard. In fact, I still struggle with it sometimes. Jesus was ministering to a group of people in Luke 12:13-21 and from the crowd, a voice yelled out: “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” Jesus’ reply to him shows us two things: 1) his value in Jesus’ eyes as Jesus calls him “Friend.” And 2) this man was measuring himself by the wrong standard… he was measuring himself by his wealth. Then Jesus said to him, “Life is not measured by how much you own.” As I read that this morning, I was reminded of how often I measure myself by the wrong thing… the thing that will fail, the thing that cannot stand up, the thing that is cloaked in a disguise.
Like I said, I’m getting honest here. As a Bible teacher, I often look at other Bible teachers and think… I wish I could capture an audience like so and so, I wish I could speak with that kind of eloquence, I wish I could understand Scripture like that person. Throughout this Christian life, I have measured myself by others… other moms, other marriages, other leaders, other authors, other friends, other mentors. Something tells me that you are nodding your head in agreement because you’ve been there too. In fact, we wouldn’t be human if we didn’t do it sometimes.
But here’s the thing… the only thing that we should stand next to and measure ourselves by is the Word of God. It’s righteous, true, and without fault. The Bible is God’s Word, and it literally has the answer to everything we need in life. People often put on facades… maybe out of their insecurity, they want people to think they have it all together. EVERY person in the body of Christ is human and prone to fail. No one does it right. No one is walking this Christian life with 100% accuracy. AND people are also measuring themselves by other people. Now, there are people we should use as examples for sure… but we should only measure ourselves by one standard… the pure, authoritative Word of God. What does the Bible say about the heart, our words, the tongue, friendship, love, gifts, value, confidence? What does the Bible say about character, works, honesty, and sincerity?
If we measure ourselves by the Word of God, then we will continually evolve, mature, and transform into Christlikeness. Not Christ… but His likeness. We will act better, respond better, and love better. We will treat others better. Our words will be filled with grace and encourage people rather than offend them. We will be more careful how we live today. And when the Word of God is our measuring stick, then insecurity will crumble and confidence in the Lord will grow. We will be a better wife, sibling, friend, and neighbor. This has really spoken to my heart today. I trust it has encouraged you too.