Standards

Life Is Not Fair

“It's not fair!” That is the oft-heard cry of people who feel cheated because things did not happen the way they wanted them to. One can hear it in families, courtrooms, athletic contests, businesses—even international politics. Ezekiel heard it from the people of his day. Reacting to the prophet's words concerning God's determination of guilt and innocence, they sang the sad song of injustice: “It's not fair!” (Ezek. 18:25, 29).

Their protest revealed the human tendency to establish right and wrong on the basis of what happens to one personally. Yet how can justice be administered for all if personal satisfaction is the standard? A “me first” way of thinking is not a sound basis for uniform, just, or totally fair treatment.

That is why God, who gives us the gift of life with all its choices, also gives us standards such as the Ten Commandments against which to measure justice. Personal, subjective standards cannot define absolute truth. Only through God's objective, holy standards can true and ultimate justice be obtained.

We can see this principle illustrated throughout Scripture. The great people of faith such as Noah (Gen. 6), Deborah (Judg. 4), and Daniel (Dan. 1) answered to God's standards, not those of the surrounding culture. By contrast, the greatest moral failures occurred when people set their own standards—for example, Korah (Num. 16), Samson (Judg. 13–16), and Jezebel (1 Kin. 19, 21).

Ultimately, every person must answer to God for his or her personal response to the Lord's absolute standards. Ezekiel offered three case studies to demonstrate this point:

A person who lives righteously and serves others justly (Ezek. 18:5–9). There were not many people left in Judah that fit that description, but recent memory could look back on such righteous figures as King Hezekiah (2 Chr. 29:1–2) and the faithful prophetess Huldah (34:21–22).

A person who is born to righteous parents but grows up to live in wickedness (Ezek. 18:10–13). Plenty of people in Judah fit into that category—for example, Hezekiah's son Manasseh (2 Chr. 33:1–2) and Josiah's son Jehoahaz (2 Kin. 23:31–32).

A person who is born to wicked parents but grows up to live righteously (Ezek. 18:14–18). Again, few people matched that description, but Manasseh's grandson Josiah (the son of Amon) did (2 Chr. 34:1–2).

If we just want things to always go our way, life will probably seem very unfair. But if we are truly concerned with justice, then we will submit to objective and absolute standards that ensure it. We have some experience of that in dealing with principled judges who run honest courtrooms, unbiased referees who keep things even on the playing field, and even-handed regulators who see to it that businesses abide by the law.

In a far more perfect way, God has established absolute standards of justice and love. By living according to His ways, we pursue what is truly fair and good for all people.

Needed: A Definitive Standard

“You can believe anything you want.” “We each have to determine what is right for ourselves.” “That may be true for you; I have my own truth.”

The frightening thing about these modern viewpoints is that those who believe them become the definers of truth and reality. They leave no room for objective truth or absolutes. Yet if there are no absolutes determined by a Source that is higher than and above us as human beings, then we are all gods; or else no truth exists, and we have nothing to bind us together or define how we should treat each other.

God did not leave His people Israel in such a philosophical morass. He clearly spelled out moral and spiritual absolutes, and warned His people to seek ultimate truth from Him, not from other sources (Lev. 20:6–8).

We who live today do well to pay attention to God's unchanging Word. Apart from Him, how can we co-exist? By what standards will we define issues such as community, honesty, ethics, truth, morality, crime, and justice? Apart from His help, we are on a destructive path in a world where everyone is always right and no one is ever wrong.

One Standard for All

In 1 Timothy 3:3, Paul outlines the criteria that qualify people for leadership in the church community. All of the items mentioned have to do with character. God seems far more concerned with the personal integrity of leaders than with their education, eloquence, or charisma.

Without question, the standards are high, but that doesn't imply a higher standard for church leaders than “ordinary” Christians. All believers are called to these same high standards of Christlikeness. Paul is not creating a class of the spiritually elite here. He is simply indicating that the church should select its leadership from among people who are generally living up to the ideals of the gospel.

Passing the Big Tests

If your school days are behind you, think back on them. Remember taking tests? How do you respond to the stress of life's testing situations? Do they cause you to increase your preparation, or do they paralyze you?

We don't earn salvation like a diploma. That's a free gift. But God tests His people (Ps. 11:5). His purpose is not to intimidate us or trick us into “wrong answers.” Instead, He intends to strengthen us through stress, and teach us to depend on His council and guidance (James 1:2–8). In addition, His testing sometimes applies divine justice to our lives.

The Book of Psalms helps us see the standards by which God “grades” our performance. One way that we could be said to “pass” is when we act as a source of justice for the weak, the orphan, the lowly, the destitute, and the needy (Ps. 82:1–4; compare Matt. 7:12, 21). Another “passing” grade is given for trusting the Lord with unreserved confidence (Ps. 37:3–6; compare Job 13:15). But God will certainly “fail” us if we turn away from Him and treat others with evil.

Are you passing or failing the tests that God gives you?

What a Difference God Makes!

The commands of God always flow out of the character of God. Thus the numerous commands in Leviticus 19 are commands related to holiness, because “I the Lord your God am holy” (Lev. 19:2). Here are a few of the standards that a holy God enacted on His people:

• respect for parents (Lev. 19:3);
• keeping the Sabbath (Lev. 19:3, 30);
• forsaking idolatry (Lev. 19:4);
• concern for the poor (Lev. 19:10);
• honesty and integrity in business (Lev. 19:11–12, 35–36);
• protection of the physically challenged (Lev. 19:14);
• justice and truth in speech (Lev. 19:16);
• loving one's neighbor as oneself (Lev. 19:18);
• five years without harvesting a fruit tree for food (Lev. 19:25);
• dignified mourning (Lev. 19:28);
• forsaking magic and witchcraft (Lev. 19:31);
• respect for the elderly (Lev. 19:32);
• loving treatment of aliens (the “stranger”.Lev. 19:34); and
• keeping the whole Law (Lev. 19:37).

Does a holy God make a practical difference in people's day-to-day lives? He certainly does! Notice the single reason given for all of the preceding statutes: “I am the Lord your God!”

For more on this topic, see PERCEPTIONS, “Challenging Our Perceptions,”.