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How Do We Compare?
The story is told of a man who got to heaven and asked about a crowd he saw gathered. “Oh, it's story-telling time. Would you care to participate?” He said, “Sure, I’ll tell about the flood in 1889 when I was a boy in Johnstown, PA. 2,200 people drowned!” “That will be fine,” came the answer, “but remember that Noah will be in the audience.” Can you imagine trying to impress Noah with any flood since his time?
How do our situations today compare to those of God’s people in the Bible? When we place our complaints, excuses, worries, and other problems beside the “been there, done that” of those before us, where do we stand?
Before we complain about not being able to turn the world upside down with God’s message like some did in the first century (Acts 17:6), we need to remember Noah, the “preacher of righteousness,” who was only “one of eight people” to be saved from the flood (2 Pet 2:5). Also, do you think he would buy into the excuse that we cannot be expected to remain faithful with such an evil world around us?
When we consider our excuses for not being able to make it to worship, how do we compare to the Ethiopian eunuch who traveled over a thousand miles by chariot to worship (Acts 8:27-28)?
Do you ever feel like you suffer too many calamities or pains for there to be a loving God watching over you? Just remember all that Job suffered and how he responded by asking, “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10).
Is it difficult to tell our children it is time to leave a certain activity, or that they must avoid it all together, when it interferes with our service to God? How difficult do you think it was for Abraham to raise his knife against his only son in service to God (Gen 22)?
When the collection plate is passed and we claim that we are giving as much as we can afford to the Lord, would we want to be sitting next to the widow who “put in all that she had, her whole livelihood” (Mark 12:42-44)? What about being next to the Macedonians, who in “their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality” (2 Cor 8:1-4)?
We should be humbled when we compare our lives to those recorded for our learning (Rom 15:4). Are we learning the needed lessons? How do we compare?
