I saw a movie a while ago about a group of explorers that got trapped underground in a cavern and had to find another way out. When I first came across the movie, it said the movie was “based on a true story”, so I thought it would be interesting to watch. Well, in the movie, 6 people got trapped underground in the cavern, and because the way they had entered the cavern got blocked off by a storm, they had to find another way out. In the movie, only one of them made it out alive, all of the others died in the process through various events that unfolded throughout the story.
After the movie was over, I was wondering about the guy who made it out alive, and decided to do a little research. I found out that in the REAL story, there were 13 people who got trapped underground, and ALL of them made it out alive, and none of the “events” that took people’s lives in the movie really happened. So, basically the ONLY similarity between the movie and the true story was the fact that some people got trapped in a cave. They claimed it was based on a true story, however, it was based very “loosely” on a true story. The people making the movie decided it wasn’t an exciting story if everyone made it out alive, and the actual events that happened underground weren’t thrilling enough so they had to make them more dangerous, and 13 people were too many to tell the story with. So they changed almost everything in the story to better fit with what they wanted in the movie.
The same thing can be said for the way a lot of people who claim to be Christians live. They claim to be a believer in Jesus Christ, and claim to believe the Bible. However, they take out the stuff they don’t want, and add the stuff they think better fits with their version of Christianity. So, when they say they are a follower of Jesus Christ, they mean that very “loosely”.
The Bible commands us to not love the world, but we focus most of our attention on the things of the world. It commands us to be witnesses and “lights” in this world, but we hardly ever tell others about Jesus. We’re commanded to love even our enemies, but we think of ways to get even with those who wrong us, or else we just mark them off our “list”. The Bible tells us to care for the poor and those less fortunate, but we would rather let someone else do that. We’re commanded to trust God completely, yet we fret and worry about every little “problem” that comes along.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves…”.
Do you know what the standard, we are to “test” ourselves by is?
1 Peter 2:21-24 tells us: “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”
Yes, that is a HIGH standard to live up to – yet that’s the standard to test ourselves by, and that’s the goal we are to aim for in living this Christian life.
So, when we claim to be a Christian, are we “loosely” following the Standard? Or are we seeking after God with ALL our hearts, and seeking to obey His commandments? Obviously, none of us are perfect, we will all fail more times than we want to think about. Yet, we still must continue to live each day as we are commanded to live in God’s Word. We must rely completely upon Jesus Christ to guide our lives and direct us.
It’s NOT easy….but when we give up control of everything, and rely upon HIM to guide our lives, we can truly follow His example – “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)