In the lead news story in today’s edition of the Lexington Herald-Leader, it was reported that Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced that there were 237 new cases of COVID-19 and nine deaths from the virus yesterday. This was received as good news because those numbers were down significantly from the much higher numbers from a few months ago.

This is a reminder that such news is relative. Think about what our response would have been two years ago to such a story. If the newspaper back then had reported that nine people had died in one day from a contagious disease and that 237 others had been infected, the news would not have been good at all! We would have been quite concerned about the threat to our health. Only in light of what we have experienced in the past year-and-a-half can this be taken as good news. It’s all relative.

We need to be careful that our attitude toward sin does not change with the times. There is a danger of the church lowering our standards to keep them just a bit higher than the standards of the world. Because we live in such sinful times there is a real danger that we will become more accepting of sin. Just because we are relatively better than those around us does not mean that we are living lives that are pleasing to God. We must be diligent about pursuing holy living!

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”—1 John 2:15-17.