Thirty-five percent of Americans are overweight enough to be labeled obese. Was the author of Hebrews writing to obese
people when he told them they should put off the weight that was
hindering their progress (12:1)? Hardly.
The rich young man who came to Jesus weighed in on
his own progress, telling Jesus, “I have kept the law; is there
anything I lack in order to have eternal life?” (Mark 10:20-21). Weighing
his success by his religious (and material) gains, Jesus said those things were weighing him down.
Even as the Surgeon General is warning of an alarming level of obesity in America, more of our pastors ought to be weighing in on spiritual obesity. Many
seemingly good activities, “things on earth,” may be weighing too heavily on our
minds,
hindering us from “setting our minds on things above” and “doing weightier things” (Col.
3:2; John 14:12).
Though we might wish to be upbeat about 2010, it’s hard to ignore the facts: it was a year of loss, beginning with a massive earthquake in Haiti—our hemisphere’s poorest country—killing 250 thousand and leaving millions homeless. Only a month later, another earthquake jolted Chile, causing the death of 775 and $30 billion in damage. In April the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion killed 11 men and caused unknown billions of $ in damage to local communities and businesses and unknown loss of marine life. Meanwhile the recession was unabated; more people lost their jobs as unemployment hovered at 10%. And finally, a loss to our nation’s financial health as the national debt doubled in size to $14 trillion.
But it wasn’t all loss. Probably, the most inspiring event of the year, if not the decade, was the dramatic October rescue of the Chilean miners from a collapsed coal mine. It was a ‘gain’ for humanity—a tribute to the abilities of men.
Gains and losses: that’s how man measures his years. So once again I am reminded by Watchman Nee: “In spiritual matters, we measure ourselves not in terms of gains, but in losses,” of course referring to Jesus' warning: “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will find it” (Mat. 10:39). So the question I ask myself today is “how much of ‘me’ did I lose this year?” Is there less of ‘Greg’ and more of Jesus? And that is how I will judge 2010.
Whether economic recovery has begun depends on how you read the statistics. Real estate values are only down 20% versus 40% a year ago. GDP, while still declining, is not as bad as a year ago. Not surprisingly, the Labor Department is reporting success: only 11,000 jobs were lost in October versus 100,000 a year ago. Do you get the picture? Progress is relative—everything is less bad than it was a year ago!
As a counselor whose occupation for 25 years has been to help people “progress” in their spiritual growth, I’ve observed Christians tend to measure their progress not unlike this “less-bad” technique, saying something like: “I am not sinning as much as I was a year ago—I don’t get as angry (or anxious or depressed) as often as I used to.” While one might argue there is some validity to this measurement, it seems to me it’s akin to saying “I must be getting better: I don’t use drugs as much as I used to.” In other words, the standard is too relative. Is there not a more substantial way of measuring our progress?
There is an inherent danger in measuring our progress by where we used to be. Instead of paying attention to our history (Phil. 3:14), our focus should be the pursuit of excellence (1 Tim. 4), and pressing on to perfection (Heb. 6:1). To do otherwise is to sanction imperfection and mediocrity. Paul says, rather bluntly, it is foolish to compare ourselves with each other, and measure ourselves by ourselves (2 Cor. 10:12). If the standard is I-am-better-than-I-used-to-be, don't we risk falling short of “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13)? We will only be changed as we behold the excellence of Jesus' glory—not our progress! (2 Cor. 3:18) In the end, the only true measure of spiritual progress is whether we are like Jesus.
