The Measuring Stick

Bible Reading: Romans 3:9-12, 21-23

Koen stood next to the wall, holding himself as straight as possible. His father made a chalk mark just above his head. When Koen stepped aside, Dad began to measure the distance from the floor to the mark. “Let me do it,” pleaded Brock, Koen’s little brother. Brock was studying measurements in school, and he had been measuring things all week.

When Dad nodded and moved to the side, Brock climbed on a chair to measure Koen. “Wow!” Brock marveled after a moment. “You’re almost six feet tall already.”

“What?” exclaimed Koen. “That can’t be right.” He looked at the stick Brock was holding. “What kind of measuring stick are you using, anyway?”

“It’s one I made,” Brock said proudly, holding up the brightly painted stick. “Dad was using the yardstick, so I made my own. I think it looks about right.”

“Well, it’s wrong,” said Koen. “You have to use a regular yardstick, don’t you, Dad?”

“That’s right,” said Dad. “An inaccurate measuring stick will give the wrong measurements.” He compared the yardstick he’d been using to Brock’s stick. “This one is definitely off by quite a bit. Sorry, Brock, but you can’t just use your own ideas about how long a foot is.” Dad shook his head. “You’re not alone though. A lot of people use their own self-made measuring sticks.”

“They do?” said Koen. “I don’t know anybody who’s made their own measuring stick—except for Brock.”

“I wasn’t thinking of an actual measuring stick. I was thinking of how many of us use our own ideas to measure how good we are,” Dad explained. “We may expect to get to heaven because we think the good things we do outweigh the bad ones. But that would be measuring ourselves based on our own rules, not God’s.”

“We need to go by what He tells us in the Bible, don’t we?” Koen said.

Dad nodded. “And the Bible says, ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’ We all fail to measure up to His perfect standard. That’s why we need forgiveness. It’s why we need Jesus to remove our sin and give us His righteousness, or goodness. God says it’s only through faith in Jesus, the perfect Son of God, that we can be saved and have eternal life.”

-Mary Rose Pearson

How About You?

Do you look at your life and think you’re not so bad? You can’t use your own measuring stick to get into heaven. God’s standard is perfection, or what the Bible calls righteousness. Everyone falls short of this—no one is perfect. But when you trust in Jesus, who died for your sins and then rose again to save you, He covers you in His righteousness. Trust in Jesus today! (To learn more, click the “Good News!” button in the right column of this page.)

Today’s Key Verse:
Philippians 3:9 I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. (NLT)

Today’s Key Thought:

Only Jesus measures up