A Common Standard 📏

You'll find it quite commonplace for persons to set resolutions for themselves at the turn of a new year.

It seems to be a very ingrained part of our global culture as people.  Though it seems to be a custom that is increasingly ridiculed with each passing year, a strong cohort of hopeful humans cling to it with vehement tenacity.  They find all kinds of ways to claw the ancient tradition back from outmoded obscurity, into relevance for their own reality.

In fact, lately you may even notice that the practice goes by different terminologies these days such as Promises or even simply Goals.

Whatever you call it, it should be hard to dispute the nobility of any gesture of self-development or self-improvement.

Sometimes the objectives that others set for themselves may seem pointless or ridiculous, or superficial to us... which makes us want to ridicule it even more, but the truth is that, while it might seem downright frivolous for us... oftentimes, it would prove to be a major accomplishment for the other person.

You see, God has created us all to be so different from one another.  What is important to me, could seem like utter rubbish to you.  Or as they like to say... "What is joke to you is death to me."

These differences we know can lead to major disagreements, serious rifts and even wars and strife.  Even in the church. 😲

These things however, brothers and sisters, ought not... and don't have to be so.

The beauty of God's provision of Jesus Christ, His Word and His example is that it sets for us a standard that we can all follow, regardless of our dispositions, or likes, dislikes or personal beliefs.

We don't have to bend ourselves to like something that someone else likes, we don't even have to force ourselves to do things the way others do them.  We just have to ensure that we understand what the Word of God instructs us to do and what God calls us personally to do and ensure that we stay lined up.

In much the same way a factory on one side of the world that uses the metric system can build the exact same car part or device component as a factory on the other side of the world that uses the imperial system, because they adhere to the same benchmarks... so too can and should we as followers of Christ walk and work in unity and harmony in spite of our differences, following what Jesus has set for us... A Common Standard.