Time To Weigh In
Dear Friends,
This morning I did a very unwise thing. I turned the radio on, and listened to the news. And I say it was unwise because listening to the news almost always gets me either frustrated, or discouraged - or more often than not, both of those things. This morning was no different, as I listened to stories about how our broken world continues to function as something that’s truly broken.
The news stories were mostly about things happening in our nation’s capital, with one of the main stories being about the impending presidential election. As the newscaster talked about the different people who have declared their candidacy, one of the phrases he kept using to evaluate the person’s potential success was whether or not he or she was a “heavyweight” on the national level. The newscaster’s comments got me thinking about how we "weigh" things in life.
As I pondered that, I was reminded that if you want to be a "heavyweight" in this world, you need to be a person who really makes a mark. In other words, you need to be someone who accomplishes things through power, influence, and wealth. Those are the folks who the world "weighs" as significant and important. But the truth is, not many of us are in that category. And so a lot of us go through life confused about what's important, feeling like "lightweights” who don't really matter.
The good news is, God has a different set of scales than the world does. On God's scales, all of those things that are "weighty" on earth, are insignificant. So we can be great achievers in this world - people who have money, and possessions, and power - but when we get placed on God's scales, we're all fluff. And that's because God puts more weight on the unseen qualities in life. He wants to know who we are on the inside - what our hearts are like. That's what carries a lot of weight with God. So qualities like holiness, obedience, commitment, and a loving heart toward others are the things that tip the scales of God.
In this world, when we want to "adjust our weight", we have to do all the work. We have to go out and get the education, or move up the corporate ladder, or get put in a position of power. But on God's scales, He does all the work. If we stepped onto the scales of God and were weighed on our own merit, we would come up short. The only way to have any substance on God's scale is to first realize what God did for us when He sent His own Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross in our place.
Romans 3:23-24 puts it like this, "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” God has balanced the scales in our favor. He's given us all that we need to "make weight" in His sight. And God’s perspective of weightiness or fluff is the standard which will last into eternity.
So today, let’s take a minute to make sure we have claimed what God has done for us, accepting the work His Son did on the cross to take away our sins. And then let's ask God to give us an accurate perspective of what He values – to not get confused about which scales weigh accurately. Let's commit ourselves to living with eternity in our thoughts, letting God transform our hearts and minds to who He wants us to be, so that we can truly live as heavyweights for God.
Amen?
Daniel