Setting the Bar Too High?

It's almost predictable.

Set the standards high, and to begin with people will fail.

When people fail, people get upset.

When people get upset, they start whining and complaining.

When people whine and complain, people who set the standards get twitchy.

More often than not, when those who set the standards get twitchy, they lower the standards.

Happened in Florida recently. 

Happens in classrooms a lot.  Just ask any teacher what happens when helicopter parents' children get a failing grade--or even a B for heaven's sake!  It's Katy, bar the door.  "My kid can't fail.  You have to adjust the grade.  You made the test too hard."  Get over it.  Kids fail.  They need to.  They have to learn to deal with adversity.

How could I be so cruel and say such a thing?  Don't I want my kids to be as pain free as possible?  Don't I want them to be protected?  Don't I want their egos to be healthy and strong?

Newsflash: you don't get strong by winning all the time.  You get strong by failing.

Case in point:

I've done some weight lifting in my time.  I've been working out diligently since last October because I want to be a credible Captain America this Halloween.  I've been working on sculpting my body to look at lest half-way decent (and I'm succeeding except for those doggone love handles.  TMI, I know.).  But there is a trick to building your muscles: you have to fail.

If you want to get stronger, you must do repetitions until you physically cannot lift the weights any longer.  It is in these final repetitions that your muscles tear just enough so that they can get bigger.  If you don't push it to the point of failure, you will not get stronger.  Sure, you may burn some fat, but you will not grow.  You've got to push it.  You've got to set the bar high.  You will miss it, but in time, you will get closer and closer to it.

I believe the same thing goes for education; for life; for health; you name it.  Even faith.

Jesus Himself set the bar high for those of us who walk the Christian path:

"Be perfect even as your Heavenly Father is perfect."  --Matthew 5:48

Jesus knows the impossibility of our achieving such a goal in this lifetime, but what would you expect Him to say?  "Oh, just do whatever you can.  It's o.k.  I'll just accept whatever quality work you can do.  Just be happy in who you are and what you are doing.  Don't worry about trying to get better or do better or be better.  In the big scheme of things it really doesn't matter."

If someone had set the bar this high for me, I'd achieve it without any problem.  I'd probably feel very good about myself, but I'd never develop into anything more than what I already was.  I'd never grow.  I'd never be challenged.

Jesus challenges you and me.  He doesn't settle for anything less than perfection.  Not that He doesn't care.  Not that He doesn't really love us, but He's not going to just let us scrape by.  He's going to push us and push us hard.

He sets the bar high.  Maybe we should too.