From Favoritism to Flourishing- Part 2 of 9: New Standard: 1 Corinthians 2:15-16

         In the first part of this series, I started a discussion about how Favoritism destroys our lives and holds back our growth. Now, starting with 1 Corinthians 2:15-16, we will move away from that sickness to the healthy life of Flourishing that God intended for all of us. In order for us to move away from the standard of the world, we will need to make two discoveries. The first of these is that God has a standard that is distinct from the world's standard, even though they have a few values in common, and we are called to apply it to everything in our life. The second is that the old standard we used to hold to can no longer make claims on us. While we do several things in common with the world (i.e. dress well, work hard, make friends), we now do those same things for completely different reasons than before. Both of these concepts are illustrated beautifully in 1 Corinthians 2:15-16:

15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:
16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord
    that he may instruct him?”[a]
But we have the mind of Christ.

          The first concept is shown by "the spiritual man makes judgments about all things" and "we have the mind of Christ". We are called to examine every part of our lives and compare it with scripture. Nothing is held back: thoughts, actions, attitudes, friendships, motivations, plans, etc. To test our lives, we use the new standard that is given to us in the Bible and revealed to us by the mind of Christ when we become Christians. Where Non-believers can only look at the Bible and try in vain to imitate it, we, as Christians, are empowered to see and fix our deficiencies to God's standard by his grace.
           The second concept is shown by "he himself is not subject to any man's judgment " and "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" The first sentence is making an extremely bold statement: I no longer have to accept what the world thinks and says about me. It releases me from the struggle to please those around me and trying to climb ladders from the social ladder among my friends to the power ladder in my workplace. It also means that most of my anxieties should now be destroyed since no one can lower my value by what they say, think, or do. Other people do not control whether I am lovable or important. Even better, this freedom doesn't come from shutting out any opinion that isn't my own, but from submitting to an even better opinion: the opinion of God as revealed by the Bible, prayer, and other Christians (as long as they are encouraging you to follow God's standard as well). We can rest in the confidence that no person has the ability to judge God's opinion or bring its value down and, then, we use that standard to measure our value and lovableness. As we change how we value ourselves, we will transform in how we value other people. This is the only true first step in escaping the clutches of Favoritism and inching towards a Flourishing life.
             How does God's standard compare to the world's? Since I don't have the world to dictate my value, how can I measure it now? Does valuing myself by God's standard mean that I have to be spiritual to be lovable or worthwhile? How do I place value on other people? All this is to follow in the next post in this series as we explore the journey from Favoritism to Flourishing.
In Christ,
Simeon Snow