Have you ever belted out, “I once was lost, but now I’m found,” and felt a shiver down your spine? Or sung, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love,” with a lump in your throat, as if the lyrics were ripped straight from your heart’s deepest struggles? Why do these worship songs keep pulling us back to the gut-wrenching themes of straying, being redeemed, and clawing to stay on the path? Well, because they echo the raw, relentless reality of the Christian fight.

No matter who you are or where you come from, the Christian journey boils down to a rather universal arc: plunged into sin, lifted by grace, and striving to walk in obedience. Sure, it sounds straightforward. But if we’re being honest with ourselves, living that out is a messy, daily brawl against our own flesh. Temptations don’t just whisper; they scream. Sin doesn’t just knock; it kicks down the door. In a world yanking us in every direction, staying on the path feels like dodging a minefield of enticements. Some days, you’re just grateful to emerge without drowning in chaos — clinging to hope.

And so, when we pour our hearts into singing “I once was lost, but now I’m found,” it’s more than a melody — it’s a battle cry for Christians chasing a higher calling. Faith isn’t a blank check to live recklessly. It’s a summons to crucify our selfish urges, lay our lives at Christ’s feet, and grind it out on His narrow road, pursuing holiness by His unshakable standard. And make no mistake: that standard is God’s word, divine and non-negotiable.

Dr. Stephen Nichols, president of Reformation Bible College and Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow, lands a searing question: “If we don’t pay attention to the standard, how do we know we’ve deviated?” It’s a wake-up call we can’t ignore. How do we hold fast when the world’s claws seek to drag us off course?

1. Understand There Is a Standard

“Jesus Christ is king,” Nichols declared. As Christians, “We do not follow princes or presidents. We follow Jesus Christ. We follow our Savior. We follow our Master. We follow a distinct ruler.” But bowing to this King means living by His unchanging standard, one that marks us as “strangers and aliens” in a world that’s not our home. But Nichols reminds us, “We are not left without direction.” Our God didn’t abandon us to wander blind. He gave us Scripture — inspired, inerrant, infallible — which is the source for how we’re called to live as Christians. Even when its truths sting or its commands feel impossible to grasp.

God’s word is our blazing torch in the darkness, “a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path” (Psalm 119:105). Nichols called it “our compass and … our North star,” guiding us through the chaos of a fallen world. In 1 Peter 2:11, we’re urged to “abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” This isn’t a gentle nudge — it’s a desperate call to stand firm. The Bible isn’t just a guide for this or that. Nor is it some pesky rulebook. Rather, it’s the bedrock of our existence that shapes our morals, our lifestyle, and the very lens through which we view reality.

Nichols nailed it: we must know this standard to obey “our marching orders to not be conformed to the philosophies and the worldviews and the values of this age.”

2. Studying the Standard

Knowing the standard isn’t enough — we’ve got to dive into it, wrestle with it, let it sear into our consciences.

Hebrews 4:12 calls the Bible “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.” It doesn’t just inform; it cuts, convicts, and transforms. As Nichols warned, because “we are a peculiar people who are to live differently … we still live in this world, and we are still susceptible to the gods … the worldviews … the values … and the philosophies of our age.” That’s why “we must have God’s Word as the corrective.”

Without a standard, there’s no way to spot when we’ve veered off course. And without measuring ourselves against it, we’re ignoring the treasure God’s handed us. Over time, even the smallest deviation compounds, carving a vast, monstrous chasm between where we stand and where Christ calls us to be.

This is why we need to be in the word daily, praying it seeps into our hearts. Jesus didn’t flinch when Satan twisted truth in the wilderness because He knew what Scripture really said. The Apostles gave their lives for the gospel because they were anchored in its unmatched power. Martyrs today face death rather than compromise because they’ve gripped the only source of eternal life.

Look around — Christians worldwide are surrendering comfort, enduring slander, even rotting in prisons because they refuse to bend. They cling to the standard because it’s divine, perfect, and righteous. It’s exclusive. By studying it, they find the strength to bow only to Christ, even when the world demands their allegiance. And the question is, will we, too, immerse ourselves in this word, letting it arm us against the lies and the lures? And will we, too, cling to its promises as though our lives depend on it? Because, dear reader, they do.

3. Living Out the Standard

“We don’t cease to have responsibilities as citizens of this world simply because we are citizens of heaven,” Nichols explained. Yet, our earthly duties are forged in the fire of our unique calling. As Nichols probes, “What does it mean to have a distinct identity?” His answer cuts to the core: “We have a distinct hope.” 

This hope isn’t a fleeting wish. It’s a blazing, unshakeable certainty rooted in Romans 8:18, where Paul proclaims, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Suffering isn’t always a dramatic martyrdom or a crushing illness, though those are brutal realities for many. It’s also the grinding struggle to put food on the table, the relentless pull of that sin you can’t seem to shake, the suffocating weight of loneliness, depression, anxiety, or doubt. Suffering wears a thousand faces, each one a battle. But here’s the truth that shatters them all: the glory of our God outshines every shadow and dwarfs every pain. 

What Paul wrote in Romans 8 was not merely a gentle pat on the back, but a clarion call. Paul’s crying out, “Beloved, no matter what breaks you down, at the end of this grueling, narrow road awaits a glory beyond your wildest dreams, more radiant than your mind can grasp!” Beyond this life stands our Savior, arms wide, ready to envelop us with the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” 

But that promise demands we live as faithful servants — not to earn salvation, but to reflect it. God’s grace is free, but His call is fierce: repentance, obedience, righteousness, and a bold witness to the lost. We don’t love, forgive, or show mercy by the world’s flimsy standards. No, when we love, we pour out God’s boundless love, drawing others to Him. When we extend grace, it mirrors His unrelenting mercy, a beacon for wandering souls. Every fruit we bear — joy, kindness, patience, compassion — must ripen under the divine standard of God’s word, radiating Christ’s light to a world in darkness. Anything less is hollow, a cheap imitation.

Living the standard means standing apart, unshaken, in a world that demands conformity. It’s choosing holiness over comfort, truth over applause, Christ over everything. It’s waking each day to wage war against temptation, to align every thought, word, and deed with God’s perfect will. Nichols’s challenge rings clear: our identity as Christ’s own isn’t a passive label — it’s a call to action that summons us to live boldly, distinctly, for the glory awaiting us. 

This is fulfilled only when we seize the standard with iron resolve, carve its truth into the marrow of our souls, and stand vigilant, never letting even the faintest shadow of deviation slip past our watchful gaze — knowing and cherishing this divine standard as the lifeline that anchors us to Christ’s eternal glory.