Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach

STANDARD, n. [G., sort, kind.]

1. An ensign of war; a staff with a flag or colors. The troops repair to their standard. The royal standard of Great Britain is a flag, in which the imperial ensigns of England, Scotland and Ireland are quartered with the armorial bearings of Hanover.
   His armies, in the following day, on those fair plains their standards proud display.
2. That which is established by sovereign power as a rule or measure by which others are to be adjusted. Thus the Winchester bushel is the standard of measures in Great Britain, and is adopted in the United States as their standard. So of weights and of long measure.
3. That which is established as a rule or model, by the authority of public opinion, or by respectable opinions, or by custom or general consent; as writings which are admitted to be the standard of style and taste. Homers Iliad is the standard of heroic poetry. Demosthenes and Cicero are the standards of oratory. Of modern eloquence, we have an excellent standard in the speeches of lord Chatham. Addisons writings furnish a good standard of pure, chaste and elegant English stayle. It is not an easy thing to erect a standard of taste.
4. In coinage, the proportion of weight of fine metal and alloy established by authority. The coins of England and of the United States are of nearly the same standard.
   By the present standard of the coinage, sixty two shillings is coined out of one pound weight of silver.
5. A standing tree or stem; a tree not supported or attached to a wall.
   Plant fruit of all sorts and standard, mural, or shrubs which lose their leaf.
6. In ship-building, an inverted knee placed upon the deck instead of beneath it, with its vertical branch turned upward from that which lies horizontally.
7. In botany, the upper petal or banner of a papilionaceous corol.

“standard.” Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language. 2024. https://1828.mshaffer.com/d/word/standard (2 January 2024).

DEVOTIONAL

Just as organizations have rules their members must follow, God has standards Christians must live by.

When someone is part of a group, he or she is obligated to follow its laws or standards. American citizens are required to obey the laws of the United States. Employees must conform to the rules of their company. Athletic teams are expected to listen to their coach.

Most of us want to be part of a group because with belonging comes acceptance. This desire to conform can be quite strong, sometimes dangerously so. During Jesus’ time, “many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God” (John 12:42-43). Those rulers were so committed to their religious system that they damned their souls by rigidly adhering to its code.

Some people think belonging to the church is different though. They want the blessings, rights, and privileges of being a child of God, but they’re unwilling to conform to biblical standards. But God expects Christians to live a certain way. Paul told the Corinthian believers to remove from their midst all who live immorally (1 Cor. 5:1-2). In 2 Thessalonians 3:6 he says, “Keep aloof from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.”

Since people can join athletic teams and businesses and follow the rules, since people can be so fearful of being cast out of their society that they forfeit their souls, since people can be so devoted to things that don’t matter, shouldn’t Christians make an even greater commitment to what matters most? In Ephesians 4:1-6 Paul tells us how we can “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which [we] have been called” (v. 1). Let’s commit ourselves to obey God as we learn what He requires of us.

Suggestions for Prayer

Ask God to show you areas where your commitment to Him is lacking, and for help in strengthening those areas.

For Further Study

Read John 9.

• What were the parents of the man born blind most committed to?
• What effect did that commitment have on them?

From Strength for Today by John MacArthur Copyright © 1997. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.

RELATED

Why Do so Many Christians Fail the ‘Practice What You Preach’ Standard? Christians have often heard the accusation that they don’t “practice what they preach.” There are several reasons why Christians do not practice what they preach or at least appear to others to not be practicing what they preach. First, not all who profess to be Christians really belong to Christ. Jesus warned in His parable of the wheat and the tares that there would be false believers in the world, sown by the enemy Satan, whose aim is to cripple the testimony of Christians so that our witness to the world would be compromised. Satan tries to destroy Christ’s work by placing false believers and teachers in the world who lead many astray. One has only to look at the latest televangelist scandal to know the world is filled with professing “Christians” whose ungodly actions bring reproach on the name of Christ. In Matthew 7:22, Jesus warned that many would profess faith but do not know Him. He also told us we would recognize false believers by their fruit. A bad tree does not produce go… Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered

BIBLE READING PLANS

http://www.christianbeliefs.org/brs/biblereadingsch-00.html

Crossway Reading Plans