Setting the Standard

Comparatively, I have not worked all that many different jobs. I currently work as a paramedic on a county ambulance service as well as an investigator for the medical examiner. Prior to that, I was a greenskeeper for a golf course. Before that, I was in sales and marketing and before that I was a full time stay at home son. But what I have found that each have in common are some form of standard. Whether it is a dress code, a code of conduct, a protocol for treatments for ailments, and so on. As I think more on it, we all have some form of standard that we live up to. Unfortunately though, too many Christians do not follow spiritual standards.

Standards in our spiritual lives have multiple purposes. They set us apart from the non-Christians. If we don't really follow moral standards, how are we any different in our conduct than someone who is not a Christian? In addition, standards bring us to be more like Christ. Romans 12:2 says "..be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." There's a quote that I like that goes something like "you may be the only Bible someone will ever read". We should be that light and the testimony reflecting Christ.

A third purpose of living up and establishing biblical standards is for protection. In addition to the jobs I work, I am also a volunteer firefighter. In the fire service, we have a governing organization called the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA). This agency essentially writes out all of the regulations for fire departments. They cover anything from tactics for scene size up and fire attack, to how we wear and upkeep our gear. We have a strict guideline to follow as to how we wear our gear, including grooming standards. Do they develop these guidelines just to try to control us? Of course not! The whole purpose of these regulations is to protect us and bystanders on a scene.

In addition to personal standards the NFPA sets, there are standards for conducting ourselves on scene. On fire scenes, we set a boundary around the scene. It may not always be a physical barrier, but there is a line we don't allow bystanders to cross and the key is to place the barrier far enough away from the scene to protect the bystanders. We don't set the barriers right in the dangerous area, we set it far enough back so that, if someone does happen to cross it, they have that cushion to avoid injury or death. But somehow, we seem to think we don't need these barriers in our spiritual life. We inch our way closer and closer to sin, seeing how close we can get without falling in. But we should be setting standards for ourselves that set a barrier so that, if we cross that barrier, we don't fall into sin.

I want to revisit the standards for our fire department. Even though the NFPA set standards for us, they do not police us to make sure we follow them. Each department and individual has a choice of whether we follow them. One standard that we have is that if we wear an SCBA, we are not to have facial hair aside from a mustache. But there are many departments in my area that allow for full beards. My point is, these standards are designed to protect us, but we ultimately have the choice of whether we will follow them. We have a choice of whether we follow biblical standards and set personal standards for ourselves. But if we don't, we have only ourselves to blame when we fall into the fire.