Failing To Live Up To Your Standard?

What is good about America is that it is a constitutional republic, at least it is supposed to be. 
 
This means we are (supposed to be) a nation ruled by laws, not men. 
 
(*note - the founders screwed this up out of the gate, allowing the great contradiction of slavery)
 
This is utterly profound because it means God is our King, and He does not rule by arbitrary whims but rather by His Ways, His Laws, and His Principles, which are all axiomatic and causal. 
 
Consider this today: Do you see following God and doing right as a duty?
 
Do you see Him as a harsh Judge just waiting for you to break one of His impossible laws set by impossible infinite standards?
 
Do you see yourself as perpetually not good enough to keep even one of them?
 
Please think hard about this, and be honest with yourself and Him. 
 
Because…
 
This is a problem. Returning to my post about being perfect, you cannot be perfect when the standard of perfection is infinite. 
 
But you can be perfect on those things in which the standard is measurable. God’s laws are principles from a loving Father showing His children how to live on His creation. Let’s look at two of the most axiomatic (basic, fundamental, first principle-ish). 
 

1. You shall not murder. 

 
Life is precious. We are image-bearers of God, and to kill one of us is the gravest sin. 
 
Because we have this law, we know how God feels about humans. We know what is important—our lives. 
 
Most of us are fine with holding others’ lives as sacred, but we struggle to see our own lives as meaningful. 
 
But they are. Our primary purpose is to glorify God. Next, our purpose is to live life abundantly—that is, to the fullest. 
 
Keeping this law, “you shall not murder,” is philosophically much more than simply not killing someone. It’s orienting your life around the principle that life is precious, and to you, the particular unique steward of your life, your life is the most precious. 
 
That may sound anti-Christian to us who know to “put others above ourselves,” but context is the key. When I say to make your life and living it well the most important thing to you, I am saying that your primary responsibility on this earth is stewarding your life. If not you, who? Who is supposed to live your life for you? Who should ensure you eat, sleep, work, thrive? If you are an adult, it is you.
 
Similarly, the second one is not axiomatic but a derivative of the first. 
 

2. You shall not steal.

 
Why is God against stealing? Because life is precious, and we need our stuff to live and help others live (which we do after we make sure we live). 
 
You can’t live your life by conquest. You must respect other people’s lives and their stuff. 
 
Both of these things can be done to perfection. You can absolutely go a minute, a day, or a lifetime without killing anyone or taking what belongs to someone else. 
 
A Word About Depravity 
 
I love and cherish the gospel because Jesus paid for my sins–and even my future sins–provided I continue following Him. 
 
It is a fact that there is no one who has not sinned and does not need a Savior. But the doctrine of total depravity is usually preached like, “You were born filthy, you’re still filthy, and though you are saved because your filth caused God to torture His Son for you, the minute you stop seeing yourself as filthy, you have fallen from grace.” 
 
No.
 
”All our righteous acts are filthy rags” does not mean “everything good you do for the love of Jesus and the respect of God’s rule of law is worthless.” 
 
Isaiah was addressing the “righteous acts” of religion: sacrifices, rituals, washings… while they practiced hatred of human life in some way by breaking God’s causal laws, which are infinitely more important than religion: oppressing people, ripping people off, enslaving…
 
I’ve heard people say, “Even your so-called good works are filthy because your motive is depraved. Even a mother loving her baby is depraved and selfish.” 
 
No. 
 
God’s Causal Ways
 
If we are depraved and can do nothing that is not filthy, then what’s the point of trying? Herein lies the root of the sin problem in today’s churches. We see God’s laws as a duty, an impossible one, and we give up. 
 
But imagine you have a kind and wise Father (because you do), and He is showing you the way to live. He has given you autonomy (stewardship) over your life, but it is not anarchy; it is the rule of law — His Laws, the righteous and just principles by which He governs. 
 
In addition to the laws about protecting life, there are laws of gravity, math, and quantum physics. He made them all, and we must obey them all in order to do well on this earth. 
 
You can have autonomy, but you cannot break the law of gravity without consequences; the same goes for all His ways. 
 
Live your life to the fullest and obey God’s ways within it, and you will not fail to live up to your standards. You will learn that godly principles are good for you and that living according to them makes your life better. 




 
Reminder: Focus Today 
 
Don’t forget to live in focus, abiding in the present and in Christ. Everything good can happen when we do that, and you can’t imagine just how good until you let God be God in this way.