Gold stars

I remember grade school well, perhaps because I have a child who came through grade school, one in the middle of it, and one about to enter.

One thing I remember vividly about my own school days as well as that of my children was the gold star chart. The chart in case you are not familiar is a simple way to motivate children to accomplish a goal by placing gold stars (or something similar) next to their name. It usually resulted in 2 things; excitement over some nominal reward for earning said stars, and competition/comparison between children.

Sometimes as adults we long for things of childhood, and I believe the gold stars are one of them. We long for recognition and to know that we are achieving an objective or subjective goal. And not only with other people, but also with God.

Work gets done for public recognition and each of us silently (or publicly) compared ourselves to the next guy.

Did I earn a gold star for that? I must have one for giving. I must have more gold stars than him, after all I'm a....(deacon, missionary, pastor, elder, board member, etc...)

I'm sorry to tell you this, but there is no divine gold star chart where we can check our own standing against others. No, the Lord has no chart with carefully placed stickers by which He compares our performance against one another.

Revelation 20:12 references "books" in which works are recorded. But it is important to note that those books are closed, ie not open for public inspection and comparisson. 

The standard God looks at is not how we're doing compared to the next guy, but are we being obedient to the standard He has called us to in scripture and to the obedience on His personal call on our lives.