MORAL CLARITY

Moral clarity – having a clear sense of what is right and what is wrong, and therefore what action must be taken – is a quality that is sadly lacking in the culture of today.  It is lacking in our homes, our schools, our businesses, our media, certainly in the arts and entertainment, and most profoundly in our government . . . and even in our religious institutions.  Too many of the pulpits of America no longer ring out with clear biblical principles and instruction of how to apply those principles in daily life and business.

Have those to whom were given the responsibility of salting and lighting their communities lost their savor?  Have their voices become confused, dim, tentative if they’re sounded at all?  Under the deception of ‘political correctness’ and false understanding of ‘toleration’ have we become a culture that is “wise to do evil, but to do good we have no knowledge?”

This atmosphere of ignorance and confusion about what is right and what is wrong and what to do about it is so prevalent in our culture that we are astounded when we hear a Franklin Graham speak out confidently and in genuine Christian love about homosexuality, or Islamic terrorism, or trans-gender bathrooms; or the very few entrepreneurs who would rather close their doors than yield their moral convictions; or when the leaders of other nations speak boldly against terrorism and act decisively to protect their citizens, while our own leader is busy looking in the mirror, taking “selfies” and remaining silent while Christians are persecuted, held unjustly in foreign prisons, and kidnapped for ransom to finance more terrorism. Friends, these things ought not to be so!

Isaiah 5: 20 pronounces a curse upon them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter; who pervert justice and justify the wicked.  Are we not grieved daily at decrees handed down from higher courts who punish the good and refuse to hold the wrongdoer accountable?

We need moral clarity today like never before!  Without it, we are like those who only hear an uncertain trumpet sound, if any at all, and therefore do not prepare themselves for battle . . . and are slaughtered as a result.

Let us who know the Word of the Lord rise up boldly and declare what is good and what is evil according to His righteous standard, for there is no other.  Let us teach it to our children as we rise up in the morning, as we walk along the way, as we sit together and as we lay down at night.  Let us speak it to our neighbors and those we encounter during our day as God gives us opportunity.  And let it be so clear that those who hear it may prepare themselves for the battle that rages all around us and sound the alarm for others also.  To this we are called and commissioned!

PARENTING APPLICATION:

Moral clarity is simply being clear on what is right and wrong according to God’s standards, as stated above.  And as has been noted before on this blog, that knowledge must be in your own heart before it can be taught to your children.  You cannot give what you don’t have.

Therefore, identifying which principles and practices of life you’re confused about or unsure of is the place to start.

How blessed we are as a people to have the Word of God as a clear and unequivocal standard of what is right and what is wrong.  And how we resist that standard and have since the Garden of Eden.

Remember the voice of the serpent hissing to Eve, “For God knows that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as the gods, knowing good and evil.”

Well, our eyes were opened alright . . . to all the pain and misery that God’s Word protects us from when we obey it.  And isn’t that what we want for our children?  To protect them from pain and suffering if they would only listen to us!!

So, no matter where you are in your child-raising career, it isn’t too late to begin clarifying for yourself what is biblically right and wrong. Our God made it amazingly simple to know what was in accordance with His moral standard.  He gave us the Ten Commandments, sent His Son, Jesus, who simplified even further by giving us the great commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and the second one like unto it: Love our neighbor as ourselves.

When we dare to take God at His word and declare what He says is good and evil, that is moral clarity.  And with moral clarity comes the assurance of knowing the right thing to do.

Teach your children that a thing is right because God says it is, and wrong or evil because God says so.  He created us.  He gave us the moral law.  He gets to determine the rules by right of creation.

By being clear to our children, including clear instruction about the consequences of disregarding God’s standard, we build within them a strong internal moral sense from which they can judge situations they are confronted with when you aren’t there to guide them.

However, when we leave them on their own, or trust that the classroom will teach them, or their peers, we not only abdicate our responsibility, but we place them in danger.

Remember, other institutions cannot substitute what only the home can provide.

As the home goes, so goes the nation!