Write It On My Heart

Those who have infected our minds with moral relativism and situational ethics say that everything is “living and breathing.” Everything! Therefore, the Bible is not absolute, the basics of the Constitution must be changed removing the name of God everywhere in public places, marriage is no longer between a man and a woman, a strike is a ball “under some circumstances,” boundaries are not boundaries, a lie is not a lie, global warming is global warming because I say so (I’ll just change the patois to “climate change”) and, there is no such thing as truth!

Since there is no standard measure, why don’t we save money and do away with the Bureau of Weights and Measures? Why don’t we cut a 30 week old baby out of the womb, take a hammer, crush its head and sell the liver? We can always justify this “in the name of science.” Hey, if a grocery store sells us pig meat and names it beef, so what – it’s meat isn’t it?

In those days there was no king in Israel, but “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” [Read it in Judges somewhere] They wanted a king. That sounds well enough, but what the story implies is that people made a “Faustian bargain,” a deal with the devil! They bleached their image, lied through their teeth, destroyed others and made up their own rules as they went along. They were typical in their practice of situation ethics and moral relativism, much like what we see today.

So this little guy named Micah lived at home with his mother. She did all the cooking, cleaned up after him and washed his shorts. He was spoiled rotten. He could do no wrong. One day he took all her silver and hid it in his sock drawer in anticipation that someday people would wear socks. She loved her silver and went ballistic when suddenly she couldn’t find it. She looked all through the living room, under the beds, in the attic, in her panty drawer, everywhere. Then Micah said to her, “You know all that thousands of dollars [it might have been called shekels] of silver you been looking for? Well, I took it!” Typical doting mother as she was, she said, “Bless your little ol’ heart.” Both of them giggled and giggled, and he returned the money to her. Since she did what was right in her own eyes, she had an idol carved for him and plated it with silver. By that time the little guy had all kinds of idols all over his room. She even made a brand new ephod (look it up) for him. Wasn’t that sweet?

Well, one day a priest came through that part of the country and told Micah that he needed a place to live. Micah said, “Mercy me! You can stay right here. My mom does all the cleaning and laundry. Hey man, I got it good. She’ll give you cheese and crackers, even asparagus soup every day, a new suit and underwear, room and board.” So as Micah’s personal priest the little priest-guy with lily white hands made a Faustian bargain. Micah yelled from the roof top, “I know the Lord will bless me now cuz I have a genuine priest working for me!” It just so happened that shortly after chaos occurred and Micah and all his people, including the priest who had cheese and crackers and asparagus soup every day were slaughtered by the men of Dan.

It seems to me that the state of the church today is not unlike that of Israel long ago. Oh, we’re not “heathen” like those Israelites. We don’t carve out idols. Ours are more sophisticated. Our Faustian bargain is more subtle. See, God’s plan has been replaced with something more subjective. Higher class if you please! We and our priests & pastors make up our own rules. One of the rules is never-ever say anything that could be construed as instructive and negative. And for sure, don’t preach about sinful behavior. “Remember, if you gonna be my priest/pastor, you gotta be my ‘court jester,’ too. You gotta use humor and speak without causing offense, and too, can you sing and dance? What about your wife, can she play the piano? Please don’t wear a suit and tie!” Back in the day (as they say), there was no one to point out their sin. Why? Because they had the “priest” in their pocket – he worked for them. Today, we want a priest/pastor who is funny, who can sing the “Star Spangled Banner” with gusto, is a financial wizard and who can tickle the fancy of everyone … especially the women (if the men don’t find out). This is what we are witnessing in our culture of moral decay.

I got to thinkin - we better get back to basics and know what our values are, what we believe, and stand firm on those principles or, when those “horses” come, what’re you gonna do? What horses? I’m referring to Jeremiah the prophet (Jeremiah 12) who seemed to get all ticked off at God, and started asking all kinds of questions just like we do. Questions like, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” “Why doesn’t God do something?” “Why doesn’t He just blow things up and start all over?” “Why isn’t He like my personal celestial Santa Claus?” “God, you told me I would be able to get a parking space and I been drivin’ all over town and I kaint find nuttin’.” “I just sent money to that ol’ boy on TV and I’m still not healthy, wealthy and wise?”

God said something like this to Jeremiah: “Hey Man, if you can’t even keep up with men, what are you gonna do when you have to run against the horses?”