Christians are carriers of an unbearable truth. We carry the truth about the high and glorious calling of human beings, of all that we were created to be. In doing this, however, we are upholding a standard that exposes our failure. We carry the very truth that appears to condemn us. We are like thieves carrying signboards that read “you shall not steal”. So, we are branded as hypocrites, because we have failed to practice what we preach. And we are told to stop proclaiming an impossibly high ideal. Many Christians therefore lower the standard, they exchange the ideal for the real, the divine nature for human nature, what ought to be for what is. In doing so, however, they misunderstand why we uphold such a lofty standard. We hold it high precisely because it no longer condemns us. We hold it high to celebrate the grace that comes to sinful people through Jesus Christ. To lower the standard is to cheapen the grace. We hold it high because it is the blueprint of the sacred temple that God is rebuilding. We are not advertising what we are, but what we are slowly becoming. We uphold it to remember our incompleteness. We hold it joyfully because we are being transformed by God, and we hold it humbly because we are unfinished and still a messy worksite. So, fly the standard high and let it be the banner of grace over your life. Let it remind you of what you have been forgiven of and forgiven for.
Ask God to show you your failures and to transform you by his Holy Spirit.
Read 1 Peter 1:13-2:2.
