I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

…but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. 2 Corinthians 10:12
A couple of years ago I attended the “Best Weigh” program at my church. While I wanted to lose a little weight I was not aware of just how much weight I really needed to lose. The doctor presenting the class pointed out that many people compare their weight to those around them, thinking since they are within the normal range of everyone else that they must be healthy. However, most Americans are overweight, and a third are obese. The majority of Americans are prime candidates for a heart attack. So, by making sure my weight fell within the norm of those around me, I was setting myself up for a heart attack!
Many people accept the health issues that their diets create because they are the same health issues everyone else has, so they just consider it normal. However, if we would eat according to Bible standards we may not have the same health issues everyone else has. You don’t have to accept the normal diet of those around us, and we don’t have to accept the health issues that are prevalent around us as being “normal.” A lot health issues that we consider a normal part of growing older, are only normal to those who don’t take care of themselves properly.
This week’s SS lesson mentions how people were so far away from God in Jeremiah’s day, while thinking their relationship with Him was perfectly fine. They were making the same mistake many make today. They looked around and found themselves within the norm, not realizing the norm does not have a healthy relationship with God.

Let me share a quote I have not heard in a while, partly because it scares us and makes us uncomfortable. Didn’t a lot of Jeremiah’s counsel make people uncomfortable? Here it is,

It is a solemn statement that I make to the church, that not one in twenty whose names are registered upon the church books are prepared to close their earthly history, and would be as verily without God and without hope in the world as the common sinner. –Ellen White, Last Day Events, Page 172

Apparently the “norm” do not have a healthy relationship with God today, anymore than Jeremiah’s day.

It’s past time for us to stop looking around at how everyone else eats, exercises, dresses, spends the Sabbath, gives offerings, spends time in Bible study and prayer, and start comparing ourselves to the Standard of God’s Word. The “norm” is not the standard. God’s Word is the standard.

We cannot consider ourselves physically healthy just because we are like those around us. They may not be physically healthy either. In the same way we cannot consider our relationship with God to be healthy just because it is like those around us.