God's Yardstick - Part II

Remember when you were a child, how your mom and dad would take a yardstick to see how tall you were? At the annual family reunions on the Fourth of July you would hear your dear Uncle Bob and Aunt Betty exclaiming how you’ve grown like a weed, but you couldn’t see it. You sure as heck didn’t feel any different than the last time you saw them. Well, maybe your pants were only down to your ankles standing up, (and they barely covered your shins sitting down!), but maybe they were shrinking in the dryer, right?

So when you were told to stand up against the wall and the yardstick came out of the broom closet, you knew we were finally going to set the matter straight. Exactly how much have you grown since last year? An inch or a quarter? Place your bets ladies and gentlemen. The truth is about to be revealed! Is your godfather really right and your pants the same size, or is it just a figment of their imagination? And they would put a little pencil mark on the wall, lest anyone would dare to question it for the next year.

When I’m reading the Word of God, his unchanging standard for truth, it’s just like that, except for one thing. I’m usually brought up shorter than I thought I would be. Actually, this is just what He tells us in Romans 3:23, there’s no exception among man, but “all fall short of the glory of God.” And again, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.” (Romans 12:3) Coming before God in his Word is the time I get to stand up to the wall and see where I am, regardless of what anyone else says or thinks. And if I’m smart, I’ll pay attention to the markings.


What is Love?
Let me give you a great example.

The Greek city of Corinth was at a crossroads in Biblical times. It was a melting pot of the nations, much like Boston is today. And with the prestigious status of being a Roman colony in the days of Caesar, there came great wealth and prosperity. In an atmosphere of intellectual pride there was material affluence and moral corruption much like we see flourishing in the neighborhoods around Cambridge and across America today.

Likewise, the early believers were living in the midst of an anti-Christian environment in which people were encouraged to indulge every sensual desire. Gee, the similarities are astounding and it seems nothing’s changed in these two thousand years. Today, instead of meeting at the Roman baths, we have Sex in the City, Desperate Housewives, and a host of other programs piped in on cable and lauding the same pagan messages right into our homes.

We know the Corinthian church was riddled with problems. Jealousies, broken homes, and social pressures were rampant. Arguments and theological factions threatened to undo their fellowship. So what did God do? He went to the broom closet and put up a yardstick!

I Corinthians chapter 13 is where we find the so-called “love chapter” of the Bible, where God Himself invites us to step up, “Now stand tall, and see how much you’ve grown, my child.” Through his messenger, an apostle named Paul, the Lord preserved for all time some markings to help us see how he defines love. Read it through a couple times and think about God’s incredible standard.

First, here it is in the New King James Version, the widely loved and revered NKJV. Many of us memorized these words at some point in our lives. So they ‘ring’ with a certain familiarity like the lyrics of a Christmas carol or the national anthem. Maybe they are words that we haven’t really paid attention to in a long time. I challenge you to read slowly.

Remember, this is God’s definition of love written to the conflict-ridden church, to people who know him and like to imagine that their lives of service and worship are counting for something. In reality, they were filled with controversies, factions and divisions, and striving against one another.

Paul writes through the direction of the Spirit of God:

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

And here is the Message translation, Eugene Petersen’s contemporary parallel… See if the modern lingo does anything for you.


1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.

3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.

8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
11When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. 12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

How are you doing? Are you still standing tall or like me, did you feel the hand pushing down on top of your head, and the unyielding wall against your back?

“Hmmm,” the Lord whispers, “you’ve only grown a quarter of an inch in my love. You have a long way to go honey!” But be assured, your Heavenly Father never speaks with anything but the utmost tenderness.

“My child, I have such high aspirations for your life. If you let me, I’ll bring you up into all that I’ve dreamed for you! I will strengthen those sagging spiritual muscles and nourish those weak limbs of faith. My plan for you is growth and maturity. I WANT to see you growing like a weed kid! I want you to attain to your full stature and go on to enjoy a happy, productive life!”

Sure, we don’t really like standing up to the wall to be “measured”, and yet it’s just part of showing us where we are and where we need to go. Just like a birthday or like New Year’s Eve. This is a healthy time to stop and think about what’s important in life.

My prayer for you, dear reader, is that you stand up tall and let God show you truth. Let Him make a mark on the wall and then you set some wonderful resolutions for the New Year. By His grace, you will be wonderfully encouraged as you grow in his love.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2009!
(Let’s make it count!)