All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits (Proverbs 16:2).
As I was doing my morning reading out of the book of Proverbs today, this verse stuck in my head. For the past few weeks I have been receiving Facebook instant messages from a former student of mine that has had some difficulties in adjusting to life beyond college. During his college days, he partied a lot, failed a few classes, but came to see me as a mentor by the time of his junior year. Now he is having to face problems that all started his freshman year.
I remember one particular meeting during a spring semester where he told me his parents had cut him off – there would be no additional money for college, he was going to have to pay his own car payment and insurance, and he would no longer receive monthly money for food. His parents, according to him, had told him that they were not paying for him to play around, but to get a decent education and to behave himself. He then went on telling me, “I think I am a pretty good person; I don’t drink too much, I don’t do drugs…” What he did not understand was that he was using the wrong standards to measure his life; it was not his standards he should have been using, but those of his parents – the ones paying for his education.
Human nature – the nature of the flesh – does not allow us to see ourselves for what we are, but how we want others to see us. All too often we will be quick to see others’ problems without any consideration of our own. Even Jesus warned those who had gathered to hear him speak that they needed to consider their own lives before they began to point out the flaws of others (Luke 6:41-42). Even the disciple Peter was not without this problem; after being brougt to the point of repentance by Jesus, he immediately focused the conversation on John; he earned a stiff rebuke from Jesus: “ If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me” (John 21:22).
The apostle Paul even warned the early church about the results of the dangers of man setting his own moral standards. He so eliquently states through his writings: “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things…” (Romans 1:21-23).
We see the results of man’s moral standards in the world today. Thre is an all out assault on Christians by society. We see in the media that Christians are portrayed as angry, out of touch with reality, and trying others to adopt our way of life. Christians children who are attending public schools are being taught that the homosexual lifestyle is just as acceptable as hetrosexuality. Christian adults are often told that they must be tolerant as the world twists the sayings of Christ “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). The question must be asked- whose acceptance are we worried about – the lost world or God’s?
