Did you ever recognize something was wrong, but you compared it to the wrong standard? Trying to make it right using something that’s wrong isn’t going to work out so well.
One springtime years ago my wife and I took our three young kids to visit my Mom and Dad in the house where I grew up. Compared to where we lived with our kids at the time, Mom and Dad’s backyard was huge. They also lived way out in the country, miles from the nearest stoplight, so the wide open space and curvy back roads were an adventure for my kids.
All the old roads and routes came back to my memory. Any time we headed out to go somewhere I had to sort through old memories of how the roads connected. One day we loaded everybody up to head somewhere, and I decided on the route we’d take.
Wherever we were going, we took a road that passed right through the middle of a pig farm. It was a spot I’d passed through countless times on my way to or from school, football games, or friends’ houses. I even got pulled over by a cop there once. (I was speeding, but got away with a warning.) As you might imagine, pig farms don’t smell so good in the spring. The smell began percolating into our minivan’s interior, and the kids all started exclaiming “eeeewww!”
Deciding to take action, my younger daughter pressed the button to roll down the window, letting in the high-volume unadulterated stink in all its glory. With angry and surprised shrieks coming from the back, I hit the button to close her window again and we hurried out of the area. Confused about why she would do that, we asked what she was trying to do. In her mind, opening the window was going to blow the bad smell out. I guess it makes sense if you think of it that way, but she didn’t realize the air outside was even worse than what we were already dealing with. Though she meant to get rid of the smell faster, all it did was let in a whole lot more.
Remember in this life that even when it’s easy to be distracted about what’s important or what’s true, there’s only one real standard. It’s easy to begin comparing yourself to others. “I’m not anywhere near as bad as those nutjobs on TV.” That might be true, but Jesus is your standard, not the nutjobs. If you start focusing on the wrong standard, you’re going to lose sight of just how much (and how often) you need God’s grace, and that you’re dependent on it every day. It’s important to keep that in perspective. Don’t use really stinky air to make clean air.