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 We
are a people vitally concerned with what is "average."
We are faced almost constantly with a barrage of statistical
information. We are told whether we are acceptable by where we
are in regard to the extremes. It is desirable to be neither too
far right nor too far left.
But
let me ask a question: Did you ever see the "average"
person? What did he look like? Did he have half way between
black and blond hair; not too tall, but not too short and not a
lightweight nor too heavy; about medium complexion; not too out
spoken, but certainly not timid; not wealthy, but not poor
either; and a highly educated person, but not too highly?
It
bothers me that many brethren are overly impressed with what is
the average in religious matters today. They have developed the
rather handy philosophy of reasoning from the norm. I say
it is handy because it gives a person interested in excusing his
own lack of participation a tool with which to do so. When the
time comes to account either to himself or to others for his
action (or, likely, the LACK of it!), he reasons that he is just
"average," after all.
Reasoning
from the norm is as old as time itself. It is a method of
excusing ones conduct based on what others are doing or not
doing. A brother looks around him and sees two extremes: the
people who are zealously engaged in their various assignments
and those who are doing next to nothing. He then takes the
average between the two and that becomes his standard for
measuring faithfulness.
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Mr.
Average member becomes very proficient at the use of his newly
developed method. For instance, when it comes to how much time
he spends in service to God, he merely averages the amount of
time spent by the entire church and finds that he is doing about
as much as anybody else in that area. He does the same with the
teaching he needs to do, with the amount of money he should
give, and since he falls into the category of the
"average" he pronounces himself faithful.
Every
man is responsible, not for what is the norm, but for what HE
can do. No two people will have the same abilities; no two
people will have the same amount of opportunities. So no two
people, no matter how you average it out, will have precisely
the same responsibilities. In Matt. 25, the Lord shows that
every man has a specific trust, his own special responsibility.
If he is a man capable of handling five measures of silver, he
will be held responsible for five. If he can handle only two,
his obligation will be in accordance with his ability. But,
notice that a judgment is pronounced on him who had ability
which he did not use!
In
2 Cor. 10:12, Paul warns us against averaging. He states plainly
that if we use ourselves as the standard, no one is wrong and
everyone is right! How sad to see people of fine ability do
nothing for the cause of our Lord because they haven't the
foresight to see that more is required of them than is required
of the average member. The Bible teaches us what is RIGHT, not
what is AVERAGE! — Dee Bowman
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