Taking The Measure Of A Christlike Character

I was given a reed … and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers”.
Revelation 11:1

Trying to measure up to another’s expectations can be nerve-racking. But when God is the evaluator, then you had better have help—the kind only to be found in a divine helper!

In Revelation 11 John was told to evaluate the place of worship and the worshipers there to see if they “measured up.” Therein is a lesson for every true worshiper of God, as Albert Barnes explains.

WALK WITH ALBERT BARNES
“John is commanded to ‘Go and measure the temple of God.’ That is, ascertain its true dimensions.

“If the direction had been literally to measure the temple at Jerusalem, John would measure its length, and breadth, and height; he would measure its rooms, its doorways, its porticoes.

“If the direction is understood figuratively, as applicable to the Christian church, John’s work would be to obtain an exact estimate or measurement of what the true church was.

“John has not preserved the measurement; for the idea here is not that he was to preserve such a model, but that its true character might be known.

“The obvious meaning is that he was to take a correct estimate of their character; of what they professed; of the reality of their piety; of their lives; and of the general state of the church professing to worship God.”

WALK CLOSER TO GOD
When the yardstick of Christ’s life is laid alongside your life, what does it reveal about

the intensity of your worship?
the level of your commitment?
the purity of your attitudes and actions?
the degree of your Christlikeness?

The measure of a person without Christ always comes up short. Only in Christ can you truly measure up, for “in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority” (Colossians 2:10).