“The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” (John 12.48, ESV)¹

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¹We must have standards for all we do in life. Standard is defined: “as a level of quality, achievement, etc., that is considered acceptable or desirable; ideas about morally correct and acceptable behavior; something that is very good and that is used to make judgments about the quality of other things" (Merriam-Webster). Thus, without standards we would and could not agree on anything and disunity and chaos would follow. For example, the employee policy hanging on the wall at work is the standard by which all employees must measure themselves. If an employee is found lacking in a particular area, his or her employer has the necessary tools to either help the employee improve or if the employee continues to spiral down, terminate them. Therefore, we understand the policy to keep the employee working effectively and efficiently.

Another standard worth mentioning is the handy dandy tape measure. Without it our buildings would be crooked and unstable and our furniture would be uncomfortable to look at and sit on! This is because we would never agree to the length of a piece of wood. One builder might say the length is 10 inches, while another argues the length is 14 inches. Thus, to eliminate disunity and chaos, these builders would have to adopt a standard by which they measure each piece of wood.

In the religious world, the Bible is our standard. With it we measure our faith (2 Cor. 13.5; James 1.25), our maturity in Christ (2 Tim. 3.16-17; 2 Peter 1.3) and our eternal outcome will be measured by our faithfulness (Rev. 2.10). Since God’s word will be the judge, that is, our standard, it would do us well to heed and obey the words of Christ in all things (Col. 3.17). BG

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