Quiet day, overcast with a bit of rain.  All the domestic animals are inside laying in their favorite haunts.  Birds are taking advantage of the sunflower seeds but haven’t see the deer, so far.

We have some things to do between now and chicken breast processing day, just hope we have enough room in the freezer – if nothing else I will make the frozen fruit into jams and syrups to make room. 

Colossians 1:16-18 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

¹⁷ And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Is being competitive wrong?  Is striving for a higher office or position wrong?

I remember an episode of MASH where the Chaplain, a lieutenant, was up for a promotion.  He didn’t get it.  The show portrayed him wrestling with his desire to be promoted and how upset he was that he was not – he had earned it, he deserved that promotion. 

But it also showed where he came to the conclusion that his reaction to not getting that promotion was interfering with his primary mission, serving God by serving the troops.  It was self-serving and he was ashamed of himself.  One of the few times that, the writers of a television show, got it right.

It is interesting that some in our society – and people I don’t equate with being Christians – say it isn’t fair to have competition.  It makes those that are not able to achieve a higher standard feel they are not any good, their feelings of self-worth is gone and they often give up or they turn to crime.

So they don’t want those who achieve higher than the standard to be recognized, as it makes them look superior.  In order for those that do not achieve the standard to achieve the standard, we are lowering the standards and then lowering them again.

Then we say America has to do something about its school system; we are behind most of the other developed countries in math and science – we are like 29^th in that list.  So, we say we need more money in our school systems to increase our standing in the world.

What is the goal?  How are these other countries achieving such a higher rating using less money per student?......and sometimes a lot less money.

More and more parents are pulling their students out of school and teaching them at home.  It isn’t just Christians that are fed up with the morals being taught and the less than truthful history, biology, etc. many others are concerned about how their children are learning, what they are learning and that the system is holding their child back.  These people are not only paying the same taxes as those that send their children to public school, but paying additional money for books and other materials to home school their children.  Not to mention the additional time it takes out of their lives to help their child at a more intense level than normal.

Or, the parents are sending their children to private schools, paying high tuition – in addition to their taxes.  Most of these are schools sponsored by churches, and even though the parents may not subscribe to the beliefs of that particular church they want their children to obtain the education and discipline the school provides.

Private and Home schooled children often have the highest grades on standardized tests, there must be a reason.

Part of the reason comes from America’s belief that every student deserves an education.  We will assist children with handicaps by hiring extra staff to assist them, which, of course, raises the costs of education – it is a worthy and appropriate expenditure as far as I am concerned.

Part of the difference in the ability to educate the child is in home schooling the parent is working much closer with his child, either one on one or one on how many children they have.  They often will use the older child to help the younger child.  There is a connection and the child can ask question and get answers.  The same can be said of the private schools, they usually have smaller classrooms and more teacher contact with the student.

While the public school must take on all students, both the brightest and those that are either less capable of learning or have no desire to meet the standards.  The teacher then has to teach to the level of the lower abilities.  There are exceptions, but not wanting to recognize excellence in academic scholarship sometimes gets in the way.

Private schools and Home Schools are interested in not only the academic achievements, but the discipline of the student, they have a higher standard of conduct.  If a student in the Private school acts out then it is easier to deal with them up to and including kicking them out.

Public schools, however, must deal with uncaring parents, – not to mention the requirement that students be taught in their ‘native’ language; they must deal with uncaring and unmotivated students and students that have conduct issues.  It is harder to deal with them in the public school system.  It comes back to my question though, why?

In an effort to be all inclusive, we have ‘dumbed down’ our school systems.   We have spread out from the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic to classes that will keep students in school, even if they don’t care one way or the other.  Our teachers have to be parents, but can’t discipline the students and if they give them a grade they deserve they are not being fair to the student’s self-worth.

I can remember the frustrations of a principal I talked to over 40 years ago as more and more demands on the teacher was being made by the state without increasing budgets to help overcome the expenses.  It is far worse now.

I also find it interesting that many of the same people that lament the fact our students don’t do as well on the international testing level are the same ones that decry making the student accountable, and try not to hurt their self-esteem which seems to be their primary goal. 

America is turning out mediocre students and they are going into the workplace expecting the same ‘standards’ the school sets.  Most private sector employers cannot afford to dumb down their standards, if they do they not only lose customers they soon go out of business.

Unfortunately many of the teachers today have been the recipient of the ‘dumbed down’ standards and they themselves are not able to show the ability to reach the standards necessary to achieve a better score in the international testing process.  They are perpetuating the ‘we must make them feel good regardless of their abilities or lack of it’ mentality.

While we may not agree with everything these higher rated countries are doing in their education system, I would suggest we look at why they are successful where we are not.  What are their expectations, what are their standards – how are they met?

Now if setting standards is how we measure the ability of the student what is the determining factor for those standards?  It should be to obtain the best outcome for the student as far as being able to get the job done at the highest level; but the truth appears to be it is to achieve a feel good about yourself mentality - in both the student and those setting the standards because then they can say they have ‘helped’ these students by making them feel better about themselves.

Now, how does that apply to those verses?  First of all we must place God in His proper place in our thoughts.  He is God.  He is the Creator.  He has a right to set the rules for how His people behave.  

God has a standard and many of us are ‘dumbing’ down those standards.  Instead of saying this is what God says, we gear down our demands and expectations of ourselves and others in responding to God’s demands and expectations.  We want to make it easier to be a Christian and serve Him, so we bow to current social expectations and they become the new standard.  God doesn’t work that way, which is why we must understand who He is and where His place is in our life.

While the secular world looks at success by numbers, profits or position, God looks at success by the willingness of the believer to rely and follow Him.  God looks at our heart.

I believe competition can be healthy when it creates a feeling of desire to be the best we can be.  We test ourselves against others of like mind; the competition makes us improve and makes us work harder to succeed at that endeavor.  The danger of course is what happens to us as individuals, are we turning away from God?  Do we get so prideful of our accomplishments that it over comes our service to Him? 

For some people it is better for their spiritual condition that they do not compete, because it will separate them from God.  While most of us wish we were millionaires, God knows that when people become prosperous they often turn from Him, and He knows many of us could not handle that temptation – so we are not given the opportunity to become rich.

While competition may (or may not) be healthy in the secular part of our lives, it can be disastrous if done in the church.  Part of competition is measuring one’s self against another; there is a winner and a loser – one is better than another, at least in that particular competition at that particular time.  There should never be ‘losers’ in the church – that doesn’t mean we ‘dumb down’ the Word of God and His expectations, but it does mean we should not compete in the traditional worldly sense for positions within the church.

For instance, it is not unusual to have more people on a church ballot for deacon than there are positions.  However, that does not give liberty for any of them to be campaigning for that office.  Yes, there is an election, but God expects the members to search their hearts and, hopefully, they know the works of all the individuals and will vote for whom they believe will best serve God in this organization.  The ‘loser’ should understand that this is not the position God wants for him at the moment and continue in his service as he has been doing.

It is often hard for us to accept that every position in the church is important to God – because we bring our worldly values into the situation.  God does have those that govern or have some authority over others, the Pastor, the Elders, the deacons.  He has specific expectations and STANDARDS of the spiritual life of these people and it includes a humble and serving spirit. 

In God’s world – therefore our world – God is the not only the one in charge, but He is the one that sets the rules and He expects us to follow them.  He has laid them down in His Word for all of us to see.  While He understands our weakness and imperfections, He expects us to recognize them and to do better.  He expects us to strive for perfection, not determined by competition with some other Christian, but as determined by the standards He has set in His Word. 

A young Pastor from a small church went to his denomination’s conference.  He saw a Pastor of a large church with thousands of members, one who had served for many years and was respected by everyone else.  He introduced himself to the man, saying that he was the Pastor of a small country church.  The older man shook his hand, hugged him and said, ‘there are no small churches.’

God does not expect all of us to be Billy Grahams, Billy Sundays, Martin Luthers, Pauls or Peters, what He does expect is for us to turn our hearts over to Him and let Him work in us to His Glory; no matter what task – large or small – He has given us.

As Christians we are not in competition with each other to be the biggest or the best, OR the holiest, we are all servants of a Creator God  we are the physical evidence He uses to show other’s how much He loves them. 

We are not even in competition with satan.  We present the Word, we present our life in Him and we pray for souls - HE does the battles, we are but one of the tools for Him to use to bring others to Him.  He arms us to do battle, but the battle is His through us.

While standards of conduct, achievement, academics or other actions in this world may change due to human decision making, God’s Standards will never change.  They are not unattainable for anyone; everyone can meet them IF they turn their heart to God, which is the first requirement.  Accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, the second requirement.  Listen and obey Him as we live our lives, in dealing with Him and our fellow man, the third requirement – and He will take care of us meeting His Standards.

Mathew 22:37-40 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

³⁸ This is the first and great commandment.

³⁹ And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again