Q- Isn’t morality God’s way of taking the fun out of life?
What is it about the word morality that makes us recoil with fear? For most people, the first thoughts that come to mind when faced with this concept are those of rigidness, judgmentalism and holier-than-thou attitudes. Is this fear one that comes about from setting a standard so high that it can never be achieved and would only lead to ultimate failure? Or, is it a fear of setting up a lifestyle that is so rigid, uptight and dour and judgmental towards others that it would lead to a life of total joylessness? Well, believe it or not, neither is what God intended for our lives.
Q- What’s God standard for morality and its role in life?
In the book of Exodus 20 of the Bible, God gave us the 10 Commandments as our standard for morality. God’s primary purpose for giving us these commandments was to teach us how to build loving and trusting relationships with one another based on principles of fairness, justice and self-sacrifice. In fact, in Matthew 7:12 of the Bible, Jesus taught us that the intent of these commandments could be summed up in the following statement: “In everything, do to others what you would want them to do to you.” Additionally, in Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus also taught us that God’s entire Law could be summed up with the following two commands: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandments. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Q- I want to live a moral life, but it’s hard. Why?
So, why do we feel like it is so hard for us to live up to these standards of morality? In addition to teaching us about morality, the Bible also teaches us that we humans have a natural bent towards sin. In other words, we have a natural bent towards rebellion against God our Maker. We don’t want to follow God or to obey His commands. This natural bent towards sin was passed down to us through the first humans that God created, Adam and Eve. We humans are made primarily of flesh and are therefore prone to the temptations of that flesh. Additionally, we are prone to pride, which, at its heart, is simply wanting to do things our own way. Pride is ultimately what leads us away from wanting to follow our Holy Maker, not to mention any human authorities. Our natural desire is to want to do things our own way and to not follow someone else’s rules. Even as babies we look for ways to test the limits of the authorities that govern us, namely our parents. As we all come to find out at some point in our lives, without having limits placed on our desires, our actions, more often than not, can become destructive to those around us as well as ourselves.
Q- Why did God set an impossible moral standard for us to live by?
Given this natural bent we have towards sin, surprisingly, God never expected for us to be able to live up to His standards of moral perfection on our own. So, what was God’s purpose for giving us these commandments if He didn’t expect that we could live up to them? In Romans 7:7, the apostle Paul tells us the following, “Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” Interestingly, Paul struggled with the same sense of fear in upholding these moral laws in his own life when he stated the following in Romans 7:18-19, 21-24, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing…So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”
Even the super-apostle, Paul, knew that he was not capable of living up to God’s standard for holiness. Thankfully, God never expected us to be able to live up to His high standard for morality. And yet, the Bible teaches us that one day, God will still hold His entire human creation accountable for our rebellion against Him. God’s justice requires that this rebellion be dealt with. So, if the Bible tells us that we have a natural bent towards sin and yet are incapable of living up to God’s holiness, what do we do and what hope do we have?
Q- Is there any hope?
Paul teaches us about a special hope of pardon that God has extended to us that He gives to us in the form of a Savior. In Romans 3:21-26, Paul says the following, “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
What these verses teach us is that God is ready to extend to every one of us a special pardon from all our sins if we trust in the death of His Son Jesus as the payment for those sins. Once we accept God’s pardon, and turn away from our old way of life as well as commit to living the way God wants us to, the Bible promises that we are able then to be reconciled to God as we enter into a pact or agreement with Him that can never be revoked. Once we are reconciled with God, He then is the one who enables us to live as He intended. God then works in us through the power of His Holy Spirit to instill within us His love and self-control. It is through God’s love and sustaining power that all things are made perfect. The apostle John writes about God’s love in 1 John 4:13-15, “We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.”
Once we have made a decision to trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior, God then is the One who enables us to live up to His standards of moral purity as given to us through the 10 Commandments. Since we are still only human, we will never be able to adhere to them completely. At those times when we fall short, however, we can always go back to our gracious Creator and ask for His pardon and He will be glad to grant it.
Q- So, did God really give us morality for our happiness?
As we read or watch the daily news, it becomes obvious how much violence, despair and sadness are a normal part of our everyday life. When analyzed more closely, most crimes we hear about involve people not treating people fairly, usually motivated by greed or “covetousness” or from weaknesses of the “flesh”, as the Bible puts it.
At its core, God’s guidelines for justice are meant to protect our relationships with one another and to teach us how to be motivated by love and self-sacrifice than greed and selfishness. Through God’s 10 Commandments, He has given to us a system of justice that ultimately teaches us how to love one another and to treat one another with fairness and respect as well as to have self-control and the ability to sacrifice for the greater common good. Who of us cannot claim to be happiest when treated fairly and respectfully? Additionally, how much happier we are when we are treated with love! God really did intend for our ultimate happiness by giving us His standards for morality.
The 10 Commandments
The following are the 10 Commandments as summarized from Exodus 20:1:
- You shall have no other gods before me.
- You shall not make for yourself an idol.
- You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
- Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
- Honor your father and your mother.
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
- You shall not covet.