Mending Your Heart in a Broken World by Patsy Clairmont

Author:Patsy Clairmont [CLAIRMONT, PATSY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780759525955
Publisher: FaithWords
Published: 2009-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

Towering Standards

Actually, we all need towers in the form of standards. The raising up (did I say “up"?) of a standard is a safeguard for our lives. It means we know whom we believe and what we believe and that we filter our behavior through that grid. Standards add vigor to our faith, and they help to protect us from distracting winds of doctrines.

The word standard is defined as “a principle that is used as a basis for judgment.” When we raise a godly standard, it elevates us (not as in “puff up” but as in “grow up”), gives us a higher perspective (beyond our finiteness), and guards us against becoming casualties of the enemy’s deceptions.

Two types of building are going on in the Book of Nehemiah: the rebuilding of the walls and the city, and the rebuilding of the people. We see them raising godly standards to live by. They pledged to walk in God’s law, not giving their daughters to other peoples in marriage; forgiving debts after seven years; not dealing in commerce on the Sabbath; tithing not only money but also a portion of their dough, their fruit, their wine, their oil, their cattle, etc. (Neh. 10:30–38). After making this pledge, the people proclaimed, “Thus we will not neglect the house of our God” (Neh. 10:39b). These standards were not established to place a hardship on the people but to provide guidance for right living.

When I was twenty years old, I struggled to figure out how to “live right.” I certainly realized that the way I was living wasn’t working. I was flailing emotionally, physically, relationally, and spiritually. Out of my desperation, shortly after giving birth to my first son, I attended a tiny white church on a hilltop and gave my life to Christ. Soon after that experience, I found myself once again in a daily struggle for my sanity. My crisis peaked when I became so sick of myself that I was willing to risk making changes. (Which is why we shouldn’t always rescue people who are in the throes of a crisis, for it might be the very platform that God is using to help set them in a much better place.) The journey to the end of oneself is different for each of us, but one telltale sign that we’ve reached it is when we develop a willingness to embrace God’s way and valiantly work toward raising his standards.

You see, as an agoraphobic, I was frightened of everything. I was afraid of being ill, and yet I constantly made poor choices regarding my diet and schedule. I was afraid of taking medication; yet I’d plead with my doctors to help me. I was scared of riding in cars and yet grumbled that I was isolated. I was in a no-win struggle, sabotaging my own recovery.

Then I began to memorize Scriptures on fear and courage, that I might change the way I thought and behaved. I would quote, “Casting down imaginations,… and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor.

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