2 Corinthians -- Comparisons

Read 2 Corinthians 12-13

Today's Devotion-- 2 Cor 13:5-7
5Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 6And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. 7Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Not that people will see that we have stood the test but that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. (NIV)
taken from www.biblegateway.com

When I was a teenager I was a member of a local church where many of my friends attended. As with many new believers, I was devout and fervent in my faith. But on a church-sponsored senior trip with my friends, I found out that many of the people I looked up to as Christians often made poor choices. Some of the 'most Christian' kids in the youth group were talking about life one way in class and living another way in their daily lives. Even some of the adult sponsors weren't being as perfect as I presumed they were (and expected them to be). I became frustrated with this 'Christian' thing and and pretty much gave up on religion for more than 15 years.

This passage is convicting to me. Instead of looking into my own heart and examining my faith (which was obviously pretty weak), I judged others and used their examples as an excuse to stop doing what was hard (maintaining faith in a self-centered world) and to go along with the crowd. Don't get me wrong, compared to most I was still a 'good girl' (although I don't know why I feel obligated to say that...maybe because my Mom reads this!), but I didn't make choices that glorified God.

Over the years I realized that Christians are far from perfect, and that I shouldn't be judging their faith. Most importantly, I shouldn't be evaluating my faith by looking at others. God has expectations for me alone, and I need to be living up to those...nothing else.

It's still really easy to judge myself and see my failures more than my successes, but I know that God loves me no matter what I do....which makes me want to do his will even more! I won't be a 'perfect' Christian until the day I stand in front of the King and Jesus himself steps in front of me to cover my failures.

It's scary to think, though, that there may be new Christians out there, just like I was, watching my actions to see if I stand up to the 'perfect' example they expect. I know that I will fail. I pray that God gives them the grace and the wisdom to not use my failures as an excuse to step away from the faith.