Comparison shopping

All the school moms know that it is that time again: time to do back-to-school shopping! Here in Alabama we will enjoy a holiday from state taxes on all school supplies this weekend. Friends of mine are planning to hit Walmart at 10:00 pm and head for the registers at midnight, just as the sale begins !

Wisely, we all do comparison shopping. It is, of course, the best way to stretch our dollars and get the best value for the money. And with gas prices soaring (ours jumped 10 cents yesterday), we are more motivated than ever.

I personally think it is much easier to comparison shop for school supplies than for school clothes. Comparison shopping between filler paper, glue, and #2 pencils is less complicated by personal style preferences; but still, choices remain: should we buy college-ruled or wide-ruled? Glue sticks or regular Elmer's? Colorfully painted pencils or standard issue #2 pencils? Hey, can we use mechanical pencils instead?

As wise as it is for us to comparison shop for school supplies and other material necessities, God has been showing me that it is NOT wise or godly to practice comparison shopping when it comes to valuing people and relationships. Or when I try to estimate my value to God.

Why? Because God is NOT a comparison shopper! He does not place value on us according to the quality or quantity of our achievements or whether we meet His high standards.

And it is a good thing, too. When He searches the earth for those who are righteous enough, he declares that there is no one righteous--no, not one. (Romans 3:10; Psalm 14:2,3).

My protest began then: why did God choose Noah then? Or David? Or any of us?

When God surveyed the earth during Noah's time, people had so corrupted themselves that God was sorry He had made them and decided to destroy them and start over. Only Noah "found grace in the eyes of the Lord"(Genesis 5:6-8). God chose Noah to build the ark.

When God rejected Saul as king of Israel and sent Samuel to the family of Jesse for a new king, it certainly looked like comparison shopping on the surface. Samuel thought so. Samuel confesses in his first book (I Samuel 16:1-7) that as he observed the sons of Jesse, he would have picked the oldest Eliab right away. God had to speak clearly and decisively to Samuel to lead him to His choice, David.

And what about us? The apostle Paul (whom we would never have considered a candidate for the Gospel when he was Saul, persecutor of Christians) sheds some light on this in I Corinthians 1:26-31.
"Remember, dear brothers and sisters that few of you were wise in the world's eyes, or powerful, or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish...despised by the world...things counted as nothing at all..."

Why? Verse 29 says, "so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God."

Hebrews 11 explains that Noah's faith made him right in God's sight, not his rightness. Noah was not free of the corruption of his world, even after the flood (Gen. 9:20-28). He became shamefully drunk after settling in to the new life God had given him and his family.

All too well we know the failure of King David: adultery with Bathsheba, the murder of her husband Uzziah (II Samuel 11). He also failed as a father by not dealing with Amnon's rape of Tamar which lead to Absalom's murderous revenge and rebellion.

These three individuals (Noah, David, and Paul) and their stories reveal that God does not comparison shop (as we do) looking for value or bargains or good investments. But He does make choices: he chose Noah to build the ark; he chose David to be king of Israel and produce the line of kings from which the Messiah would be born; and he chose Saul on the Damascus road to be Paul the Apostle.

Yes, Noah had faith. And faith pleases God. David had a heart for God that man could not see by looking only on the outward appearance.

But Saul only had misplaced zeal. Why him? Why us?

The answer comes to us from God by way of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Chapter One verse 4 says that long before the world was made, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy. Chapter Two verses four and five say this only happened because of His great mercy and grace--nothing we did or accomplished. Verse eight: it was a gift.

Wow! God's love for me is not based on how I measure up against anyone else. How I measure up to the perfection of Jesus. How good or loving I am today or any day. God's love is constant, unchanging, unwavering, everlasting, boundless, abundant, and free.

He not only would pay ANY price for you--He already paid the ultimate price for you: on the cross.

His love for you is so great: He would line up and wait for hours or days, even a lifetime, to see you and have you near. He would give you the shirt off his back and the blood in his veins.

You are the object of His greatest affection. You are His bride, redeemed from the enemy, ransomed at great price, and He longs to make you pure and holy so you can enjoy perfect fellowship with Him, a spiritual intimacy that exceeds all earthly relationships.

As Paul writes in Ephesians 3:18,19, "may you understand just how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love (for you) really is...though it is so great you will never fully understand it.
Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God."

So when you comparison shop for school supplies this month, remember that God loves you so much, that you are always His first choice.