My Cub Scout pack recently planned a hiking trip. One of the things we went over with the scouts was a list of things they should bring. Among the suggested items was a compass. According to Google, a compass is “an instrument containing a magnetized pointer that shows the direction of magnetic north and bearings from it.” It is the ability to get our bearings which keeps us on track and heading in the right direction. It is hard to reach your destination if you can’t get your bearings.
In life, we have 2 options when it comes to getting our bearings as they relate to morals. We can get our bearings of right and wrong from what men say or what God says. Today, we are getting more pressure than any time in my lifetime to adjust our sense of right and wrong based on the ideas of the crowd. Editorialists, bloggers, celebrities, and politicians have called upon churches to redefine our standard of what we call sin. The problem with that idea is that it would require us to edit God’s word and go against what He has declared. Solomon wrote, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Proverbs 14:12 NKJV To adjust our moral compass due to the pressure of men would be the same as “fixing” a compass so that it no longer points north. You may like the new direction you are traveling, but the destination will not be close to where you wanted to be.
The true north of morality is an absolute fact given to us by God. When God has decreed something in His word, we are not free to change it based on society’s whims. God’s standards of right and wrong are unwavering.
Our job is to adjust to the compass, not try to make it adjust to us. We must live out what He has declared and lovingly call others to come along with us. We all have adjustments to make. Every day we are confronted with pressure from the world and our sin natures to go along with them. When God has spoken on the subject the issue should be settled. If the Word says no, then our answer must be no. If one path is in keeping with the principles of the Bible and other compromises them, we just stay on the path of God’s word.
My prayer for us all is that we will courageously stick with the compass of God’s word for our lives and not accept a false way.
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Ramblings by James 