Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Our Standard Of Measurement

When I was growing up in the USA everything was measured in inches, feet, and yards. I have learned that this system of measurement is called the English System of Measurement. Today I live in Germany where everything is measured in centimeters, millimeters, and meters, this is known as the Metric System of Measurement.

In a similar way before I was a Christian things were measured by my thoughts, emotions, and circumstances. But today, as a Christian, I have just one standard for measurement: the Bible. Today everything I think, feel, or experience needs to be checked against my new standard system of measurement.

Over the years I have had different conversations with people about what they believe, how life works, and what is right and wrong. When I would ask people to give me their basis for what they believe I would get all kinds of answers. What I have found over and over again is that everyone has some standard system of measurement, whether they realize it or not. Most of the time people just wanted to do what they thought was right but that kind of reasoning leads to anarchy because what one person believes is right is wrong in the view of another person, there has to be some standard system of measurement that everyone can go by.

People have so many ways to measure and judge things but the Bible is the only safe standard that we can use to measure things by. If more people would follow the guidelines God gave us in the Bible the world would be a much better place. By that I am not just talking about people who do not know God but I am including Christians too. Even Christians base things in their life on all kinds of things outside of the Bible, like their feelings, what someone else has said or done, and even on how everyone else does things. None of these standards are a safe guide for us. My goal is to base what I do on what the Bible says and to measure everything that I think, feel, or experience by the Bible, how about you?