Good morals, good decisions

The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.  Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God (Romans 8:7-8).

Good morals require good decision-making.  When faced with an ethical dilemma, how do you figure out the best way to proceed?  Do you go for the option that works best for you, or do you seek a way forward that does the most good for the most people?

Sadly, trying to do the right thing is rarely easy.  There are always individuals who will complain that you made the wrong choice, the uncaring choice, the shortsighted choice.  Indeed, there are times when no solution looks like the right answer; all you can do is pick the lesser of two evils and hope for the best.

These situations come about because we don’t have the ability to make God-pleasing choices.  In every case there is a way that God wants things handled, but our sinful minds are incapable of seeing it or considering it as a valid alternative.  Sin corrupts our thinking, prevents us from looking at things from God’s righteous perspective.  Sin limits our freedom to make good choices that honor God and carry out His will.  In fact, sin looks at God as the enemy, someone who meddles with our freedom to behave however we want.  Sin even prevents us from seeing Jesus as our Savior, our Teacher and our Friend.  In the Good Book it says, The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.  Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

Thankfully, the LORD Almighty sent His Son to fix this terrible problem.  He took the responsibility for our sinfulness upon Himself, and suffered the agonizing death that we had coming.  He purchased the right to forgive us through the pouring out of His own holy blood on the cross.  Then, His saving work completed, Christ rose from the dead to share the blessing of His achievement with stubborn, sinful humanity. He tears away the dark veil of sin that blinds us so we can see things differently than before and make decisions that reflect a righteous way of thinking. He offers faith to those who are willing to accept His outstretched hand and walk with Him.  He offers guidance in finding good solutions to our nagging problems.  He offers us the freedom to stop making the same tragic mistakes over and over again. Through Jesus, good morals lead to good decisions.