Use the Standards

Hebrews 12:2 – “keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.”

One can learn a lot about life from living on a farm, even one as small as ours. The same God who made everything around us in the physical world has also made everything in the spiritual realm. It only makes sense that the same Designer would use similar principles in either realm, doesn’t it?

The other day we saw another of those lessons as we were transporting a couple loads of hay out of the barn. We had stacked about 200 bales of our 2014 hay in the barn, but because our loft was pretty full, we stored this year’s crop directly on the floor. When it was originally stacked, the bale stacks were free-standing and not supported by any other structure. Within a month of the harvest, we started to notice that the bale stacks were beginning to lean, and pretty soon fell against a nearby wall.

As we began to load the bales onto the borrowed hay wagon, Luke, Jake, and Nate did a great job trying to keep the stacks straight so that they could successfully make the road trip from our barn to their temporary storage spot. I pointed out the importance of making sure that the first stack of hay at the back of the wagon be placed so that the bales lean heavily against the strong, wood-framed standards that are erected on the back of the wagon. Each successive stack then leaned against the preceding stack and we had a load that survived the trip without falling from the wagon.

Similarly, we have a strong Savior Who serves as our standard. He has called us not only to pattern our life after His (I Peter 1:16 quotes God in Leviticus 19:2 calling us to “. . . be holy, because I am holy.”), but also to build our life by looking to and leaning on Him. He is the One Who created us. He is the One Who has created the way for us to be forgiven for our sins. He is the only One Who is strong enough for us to lean our lives on. We can have confidence that if we build our life on Him, we will be successful in developing a life that pleases Him.

The world calls you to build your life on many things and ideas other than on God. What will you do? Will you follow after what the world offers or will you look to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of your faith. Only by leaning your life against Jesus and His principles will you be able to keep your load securely on the wagon.

Love,

Dad