Zebra Ministries

Good morning Zebras,

A quick update on my God plants, the big one just keeps getting bigger.  It is now much bigger than the other plants and it has a huge flower to boot. But as I watch it grow I wonder if it is getting prideful.

It is by far the best preforming plant in my garden, but my garden isn’t much, it is a sad excuse for a garden compared to the English gardens it is trying to emulate.

If we judge our spiritual health by looking at other Christians in “our garden” (our church, our family, our group of friends) we make two mistakes. Number one, we are looking at and judging another person’s walk with Christ, which is different than confronting a person about a sin.

Romans 14:1–4 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.  One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.  Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

And two, we are using way too small of a measuring stick.  It you want to measure yourself against God’s “Gold Standard” try using Hebrews 11.  Which starts off: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,” then lists some of the great men and women of God. 

It is those people we should be comparing our lives too, if we must compare, but not so that we can feel inferior but so that we can be encouraged.

Hebrews 12:1–2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

There is an aspect of our faith that is communal, where we run together helping and encouraging each other, but there is another aspect where we need to learn to run our own race with our eyes on only Jesus. 

Love,

Jill