Sales marketing teams are really good at figuring out ways to make their products and promotions look better than they really are. It’s called using “Weasel Words” to say something that is technically true, but misleading. Do you know these tricks?
If they say “up to 50% off” – what does that mean? Was one item half off, but everything else was normally priced? What are they taking the discount from? The artificially inflated price? Their competitor’s price? Last year’s price?
If they say “Four out of five agree” – who are they talking about? You remember this line from the commercials for toothpaste, don’t you? Out of seven billion people on the planet, it’s not hard to find 4 who will agree. How many people did they have to ask to get “4 out of 5”? How many of those people were they paying?
If they say “Nothing is better/stronger/faster/safer” – what comparison are they forgetting? They’re telling you that nobody is better than them—but is it possible that everyone is the same? They didn’t tell you if anybody was worse, either!
You can see through these tricks. But sometimes Christians tend to evaluate themselves in the same way. Have you ever heard anyone say, “I’m better than I used to be?” How about, “I may not serve as much as some people, but I serve more than others…” Lots of people like to say, “I may not be the world’s best person, but I’ve never killed anyone…”
We forget that the standard of our righteousness is Jesus Christ—not the murderer down the street or the Matthew from three decades ago. We need to evaluate our walk with God on the basis of God’s messenger—Jesus the Christ!