Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

This week all 32 teams of the NFL will be participating in their training camps. The main goal/prize for all of them is to reach the Superbowl. In the pursuit of that goal, each team has established, communicated, and will evaluate standards of performance for each individual player and the team as a whole. The Holy Spirit has been replaying the thought of standard in my mind over and over, accordingly that’s what we will delve into this week.

Our examination of standard begins with with recognizing that Jesus Christ is God’s standard.

Today’s scripture, Ephesians 5:1‭-‬2 (NLT), exhorts…
Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

Consider…
Standard of performance is not exclusive to the NFL, or sports in general. The military, employers, institutions of learning, professional certifications (doctors, lawyers, CPAs, etc.) are just a few examples of other groups that also have standards of performance for their subordinates.

Oxford Languages defines a Standard as…

• a level of quality or attainment.
• an idea or thing used as a measure, norm, or model in comparative evaluations.

The most important thing about a standard is that its established and evaluated by the head or person(s) in charge.

That just made me think about how our brains set the standard(s) for our bodies optimal performance. Said another way, our brains tell our body parts what to do and let us know when there’s a problem or affirm everything is functioning as intended.

This imagery is helpful when thinking about our spiritual standard. Ephesians 4:15‭-‬16 (NLT) explains…
Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

From these two verses, we can glean important facts about our spiritual standard.

Fact #1 is revealed in the expectation that believers grow in EVERY WAY more and more like Christ.

Every organization has a playbook of sorts, which sets the expectations of how things are to be done. Spiritually our playbook is the Bible. In it are lots of requirements for doing things the right way according to God’s standard. But Jesus gives us the crib notes version in John 5:39 (NLT)…
“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!

Jesus is the standard to eternal life.

Jesus’ revelation aligns with fact #2 which states Christ is the Head of His body, which is the church. Recall in my brain analogy I stated the brain sets, communicates, and evaluates the body’s performance. Since Christ is the Head, and we as believers in Him are His body, that means He sets, communicates, and evaluates our performance, both individually and collectively as His church.

If Christ isn’t the head of your life, you’re headed in the wrong direction, which is away from God’s righteous standard!

Fact #3 of our spiritual standard is Jesus Christ has the Master plan. The Ephesians 4 section of God’s right living playbook says of Christ…
He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow.

This fact reveals that a standard isn’t some arbitrary expectation established without a purpose. Quite the contrary, a standard is established to enable execution to achieve the purpose or goal. You see an organization must first have a mission or vision, which is simply their reason for being. And that organization then sets standards to fulfill that reason for being. Well Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) explains…
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

It’s easy to ignore that a big part of God’s reason for saving us is for us to do the good things for Him that He pre-planned. How we do those things is by following the instructions, and example, of Jesus Christ as the Head of our lives.

Fact #4 is standards reflect the values and brand of the Head. In our Ephesians 4 snipit we read…
so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

It’s inescapable that God’s value and brand is LOVE!

Earlier I mentioned God’s right living playbook is the Bible. Well in Matthew 22:37‭-‬40 (ERV)
we find…
Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and most important command. And the second command is like the first: ‘Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself.’ All of the law and the writings of the prophets take their meaning from these two commands.”

Notice Jesus said ALL the law, God’s standard communicated through Moses and the prophets are based on the standard of vertical and horizontal love. That gives me the picture of a Cross ✝️, where Christ is at the intersection of our love for God and others. 1 John 3:16 (ERV) teaches us…

This is how we know what real love is: Jesus gave his life for us. So we should give our lives for each other as brothers and sisters.

Notice, we are exhorted to give our lives as, not just for brothers and sisters. I point that out because Christ, our standard, gave His life for us to become His brothers and sisters. Romans 8:29 (NLT) explains…
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Add to God’s family plan, Romans 5:6‭-‬8 (ERV) which explains…
Christ died for us when we were unable to help ourselves. We were living against God, but at just the right time Christ died for us. Very few people will die to save the life of someone else, even if it is for a good person. Someone might be willing to die for an especially good person. But Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us.

And we see God has the highest standard, which is a loving God dying for His hating enemies. Until you reach the willingness to die for your enemies, haters or persecuters, you have not achieved God’s standard of love which is Christ Jesus!

Which brings us full circle to today’s scripture that articulates Christ is our standard. Reminder, it said…
Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

Notice God’s mission or goal for us is to live a life filled with love (***that’s a mouthful by itself) by following the standard set by Jesus Christ who sacrificially loved us while we were still God’s enemies!

Lastly, the Holy Spirit is guiding me to remind us…
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. – Romans 3:23‭-‬24 NLT

Christ was God’s standard for forgiveness and rightness in His sight. Therefore, when measuring your performance, make sure you’re using Christ as the standard.

Today’s song is…
More Like Jesus

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)