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What’s Your Standard?

We’re all attached to our phones and I’m no different. I can’t tell you how many times I have checked my email, even if I have already checked it less than five minutes ago. We’re all even hooked to our social media accounts. And boy are there endless amounts of those. There are endless amounts of social media platforms, and we all are hooked to a few of those too. Research has shown that people on average check their phones 96 times a day and that millennials check their phones 150 times a day. Well, at least I know I’m not alone. And our social media apps make it harder and harder to be content with who we are and what we have. The moment we pull up that page to check out those we’re following, we are sucked into a vortex of comparing ourselves to what we see. Right away picking out what’s better and what we need to get in order to be aligned with that snapshot of what is shown to us.

But when you really think about it, that snapshot we scroll through is just it, a snapshot. Only parts of the story is being shown to us, yet that’s all we need to see before we begin to spiral into thinking of ways to achieve that ‘better’. That’s why it all starts with standards. What is the standard for how you live your life? Is it for people? Possessions? Looks? Validation from others? None of these are the standard for the life of a believer. There is only one who is the standard and that’s Jesus Christ. He is the standard for living a life that is pleasing to Him. He instructs us on how to seek after what is important. What we see on our phones isn’t going to do that. We need to begin to have a godly perspective and understand that the things of this world is not what we should be drawing towards. (Romans 12:2 – Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God – what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.) As well when we understand what we are living for, we can live each day with a new sense of purpose and be happy for others online instead of envious or jealous. (Romans 12:15 – Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.) As believers, we have to remember that though we are living in the world, we don’t have to fall victim to every cultural or societal norm that we run into. Christ has already given us all we need to make sure we stay on the path. All we need to do is trust Him and look to him for all we need. We don’t need validation, we don’t need possessions, we don’t need likes. We need Jesus. (Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.)