Keep the Standard High
From Daily With The King
By: W. Glyn Evans
I must adopt a workable standard in my dealings with others...
The standard must be biblical and it must be workable. A departure from either will spell failure.
The standard is simple: absolute conformity to an ideal; and on the other hand, wholehearted compassion for the one who fails the ideal. I believe both elements of this standard are biblical and workable. I believe both elements are essentially biblical, that is, God uses this standard in His dealings with us.
I must never discard the ideal. If I do, there is no point whatever in going on with this discipleship business. If I say to myself (and others), "Trust Christ as Savior, but sin all you please," I have obviously tied myself up in a deadly contradiction. On the other hand, if I say, "Trust Christ as Savior, but never sin again," I have placed upon myself a burden that is too much for flesh and blood to bear. So I live on the razor's edge of an exciting adventure-reaching for the purest ideal while encouraging myself not to give up if I slip and stumble en route.
This relieves me of tension with my fellow Christian workers. Failure to reach the ideal is not disaster, provided, of course, there is proper recognition of the fault and proper contrition regarding it. But upward we go in our next try, always aiming where God wants us to be , always trusting His power to get us there. The flesh may momentarily stall us, but by God's grace it will not permanently restrain us. Believers are born to victory, and His inward driving power will always propel us higher. For we "have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him." Colossians 3:10
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