"The Moral Negative" August 27 Readings: Isaiah 4-5, Romans 16, Psalm 102:10–16, Proverbs 21:14–15

 

 Through the Bible in 2021

Bible Readings:  Isaiah 4-5, Romans 16, Psalm 102:10–16, Proverbs 21:14–15  

Daily Devotional: The Moral Negative

We live in a culture that is a moral negative.  

I am not talking about “negativity,” the bogie-man of the new age.   Actually, I am convinced negativity can be honorable.  Of God’s ten laws, eight of them are stated in the negative.  “Thou shalt not.”  That is an 80% negativity rate.  Flawed human beings need limits to inhibit our sinful behavior. Negativity is not all bad. 

I am talking about the kind of negative you develop a picture from (back in the old days before these new-fangled digital cameras took over).  On the photographic negative, dark colors appear as light and light looks dark.  The image is reversed.  A moral negative exists when right and wrong, good and bad, moral light and dark are reversed.  There have always been people with morally negative consciences.  The culture of the moral negative develops when this kind of conscience becomes prominent in a society.  

In Isaiah 5:20, God spoke through the prophet and said, 

Woe to those who call evil good

and good evil,

who substitute darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who substitute bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter.

Woe to the culture of the moral negative. 

Is America such a culture? Of course, we see the moral negative in the unspeakable wickedness of Planned Parenthood or the sexual perversion in our culture. Pornography and sex trafficking and the rejection of moral standards - all of these are evil and we must stand against this evil. Only a morally negative culture values such things. There is a greater danger, though, and it is those who think they are "standing for truth" but have chosen to fight spiritual battles with fleshly weapons. So many pastors, churches, and Christians have adopted the methods of secular politics, worldly goals, and have abandoned the Way of the Cross - and they are convinced they are speaking God's truth.  I recently watched in horror as a woman at a political rally spouted that "God is separating the sheep and the goats." Then, she proudly stated, "I am a goat because I am not letting anyone tell me what to do." This woman's belligerent ignorance of God's word is matched only by her misplaced confidence that God is on her side. It is low-hanging fruit to point the finger at the wickedness of the world and say, "see the evil out there, what sinners they are!" 

Jesus never excused sin but he didn't rally the troops by pointing the finger at the wickedness of Rome or the sins of others. He told them to look at where their lives failed to match up with God's word. He challenged the religious leaders on their sins and if he were here today, I fear his most pointed comments might not be at the wicked world (which has always been and will always be wicked) but at the church which is conforming to that world. 

Jesus is working in this world to establish ONE WORSHIPING PEOPLE from every tribe and language to glorify God for all eternity and yet some, still, harbor racism, xenophobia, and the idea that God cares for "us" more than "them." That is the moral negative every bit as much as homosexuality or abortion ever was. When we confuse the Gospel message of Christ for worldly things, for political power, for temporal success, we have exchanged evil for good and good for evil. The church that is supposed to be the light of the world has too often hidden that light under a basket and allowed our salt to be contaminated and become useless. 

Are things hopeless?  Not at all.  Israel, at the end of the period of the Judges, had embraced debauchery in a way that might have made Hugh Hefner blush.  They were a culture of the moral negative.  But, Israel’s greatest days were only about 50 years in the future. 

How did things change?  One man, a prophet named Samuel, gave himself to God and his ways.  He led Israel and proclaimed truth for many years.  He anointed a king who was “a man after God’s own heart.”  David led Israel to its greatest days of glory. Nothing is hopeless in this world.  When the Colonies had turned to Unitarianism, skepticism, and spiritual apathy, God visited us with a Great Awakening.  He did it again after the Revolutionary War.  The amazing Welsh revival swam the Atlantic and revived our land at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. 

Will God do it again?  I don’t know, but we will get nowhere by cursing the negative.  We must recommit ourselves to being the salt and light we were called to be; to proclaim the life-transforming gospel of Jesus Christ.  

Oh, Father, develop my life into a print of your glory. May your light shine through me and may the salt of Christ never lose its saltiness through me.

Consider God's Word:

Which of the readings spoke most powerfully to you today?
Is the Spirit of God moving you to repent of something you are doing, to begin something new, or to change something about your life as a result of your readings? What?

How do you deal with the "moral negative" in which we live?
Do you despair? Become critical and condemning?
Or do you, in the power of Christ, shine the light of truth?