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Guest Corner
Joyce Stevens
Whose Standards Are You
Following?
Part One
The word “Standard” according to the Noah
Webster 1828 dictionary is defined as a rule or a measure that is established by
a sovereign power, or that which is established as a rule or model by the
authority of public opinion or custom.
We choose by our own will to follow someone’s
standards. Do we follow the standards given to us by the Word of God or do we
follow the standards set up by man and public opinion?
This choice will determine the road or pathway
you will follow and with every choice will come a consequence. In the past ten
years I have become increasingly aware of the seriousness of choices and
consequences. My youngest daughter is a Literacy Specialist in the public
school system and was a grade school teacher for many years. She has two
beautiful children who have inherited the same disposition as she and her father
had. This natural tendency leans toward being willful, strong headed and
stubborn. Now, these tendencies sanctified by the Spirit of God can be of great
benefit to the kingdom of God but left to go their own way can obviously be
destructive.
I have seen her discipline and teach her
children through the understanding of choices and consequences showing them how
to make the right choices in their lives.
Good choices bring good consequences; bad
choices bring bad consequences.
God clearly gives us the same opportunities
and instruction.
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
15 “Now
listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between
prosperity and disaster.
16 For
I command you this day to love the Lord
your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in
his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the
Lord your God will bless you and
the land you are about to enter and occupy.
17 “But
if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to
serve and worship other gods,
18 then
I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long,
good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.
19 “Today
I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and
curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that
you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!
2 NLT
God gives us the choice of life or death,
between blessings and curses; and even gives us the answer, “Choose Life”. Our
daily lives are filled with such choices and consequences and He still gives us
the answers, they are found in His Word.
When we choose to live by the standards
established by God, the result of those good choices will be that God will bless
our lives.
This study was born out of a conversation I
was having with my youngest sister as she was sharing with me what her pastor
was teaching on. It was about living a life of holiness, of integrity, of being
honest and upright before God and man. He used that old adage; “I don’t care
how high you jump as long as you walk straight when your feet hit the ground”.
As children of God our spiritual manifestations are not what our reputation is
grounded on. Our reputation needs to be grounded on the characteristics of what
God says a spiritual man is.
Characteristics or attributes such as,
holiness, integrity honesty, righteousness, faithfulness and morally right
conduct are the standards God has established.
Let’s look at these words by definition. All
of the following definitions are from the Noah Webster 1828 dictionary
Character:
the peculiar qualities impressed by nature or habit on a person, which
distinguishes from others, our reputation.
Attribute:
that which is considered as belonging to or inherent in, a quality determining
something to be after a certain manner, characteristic, disposition, our
reputation.
Reputation:
good name, the credit honor or character which
is derived from a favorable public opinion or esteem.
Both the
word character and attributes deal with our reputation; they are qualities that
we have inherited or learned by which others recognize us.
Whose
characteristics or attributes are you developing? Whose reputation are we
worried about? Gods opinion of us, or the world’s?
Our God
is a “Holy God” and the standards He has set for His children reveal His
characteristics and attributes.
Let’s
continue our examination of the characteristics and attributes of God.
Holiness:
The state of being holy, purity or integrity of moral character; freedom from
sin. Purity of heart, moral goodness, sanctified affections. Sacredness, the
state of anything consecrated to God or to His worship.
Holy:
Moral and ethical wholeness or perfection;
freedom from moral evil. Holiness is one of the essential elements of God's
nature required of His people. Holiness may also be rendered "sanctification" or
"godliness." The word holy denotes that which is "sanctified" or "set apart" for
divine service.
Holiness is the
process of having our lives and character conformed, inwardly and outwardly to
God’s standards.
If you
look for the word Holy in your concordance you’ll find over 611 references and
about 43 to the word holiness.
God’s
word has much to say about holiness, in both the Old and New Testament.
Holiness
is being totally devoted to and dedicated to God. It is being set aside for His
use and purpose. We are set apart from sin and its influence. We’re to be set
apart and different; we don’t blend in with the crowd. Yet, we are not
different just for the sake of being different, our focus and priorities are on
God and God’s characteristics and attributes in our lives make us different.
In the Old Testament God gave instructions to
Moses concerning the building of the tabernacle, you can read it in the book of
Exodus. Every person and thing that was used to minister in the tabernacle was
sanctified, consecrated or set apart for that service. It was not to be used
for anything else, it was Holy.
This
tabernacle was the place where God would dwell with His people. It was to be a
Holy place, totally devoted to and dedicated to God. God longed to dwell, abide
with His people.
Exodus
25:8
And
let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. KJV
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