The Moral Compass
From Sunday Morning
by Pastor Nave on November 01, 2015
The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them (Proverbs 11:3, KJV).
A moral compass refers to a person’s ability to judge right from wrong and act accordingly. When we use our moral compass and make a decision, we need to be accountable for it. Like the world, many of us today have misplaced our compass. Whether we like it or not, we will be held accountable for the use (or lack thereof) of our moral compass—it may be immediate, months from now, or at the end of our lifespan. We cannot escape accountability; we can defer it, but no one can outrun it (Romans 6:23).
Integrity starts from the inside and works its way out. If we want to be honest with God about the use of our moral compass, we need to start in the right place. Our starting point is with ourselves. Honesty is what will guide people; dishonesty will destroy people.
We need to realize that there is only one right way, and that’s God’s way. God is always right, and He will never change. Scripture warns that there are ways that seem right unto a man, but they will all end in death (Proverbs 14:12). The Word of God won’t always make us feel good, but it’s right (Hosea 14:9), and it helps us to live right in this present world.
We live in a culture that is slipping into the delusion that we have the moral capacity to choose what is right and wrong. We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We need to be careful that we don’t get caught in the “self-evaluator” mindset. If we don’t keep the whole law, we’re guilty of it all (James 2:10). Every time we fall short, we hurt the heart of God. We need to use His standard every day so we can live a life that is truly right and pleasing to Him.
We are all the owners of our mistakes. In the Garden of Eden, when God confronted man for eating the fruit of the tree, Adam blamed his wife, and Eve blamed the serpent (Genesis 3:6–13). Both Adam and Even evaluated a choice and made a decision. Scripture tells us, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed” (James 1:14, KJV, emphasis added). We need to understand it’s our decision, our fault, and our mistake.
Too many times we forfeit our moral compass for happiness. Being right is more important than being happy. We should never mistake happiness in our flesh for being right with God. We cannot live our life in a euphoric state and think that everything is God’s blessing. We are making choices that hurt God’s heart and our sins are marring our spiritual lives.
We learn from Adam and Eve that we cannot hide for our poor moral decision—nothing is hidden from God’s eyes. Blaming other people also never buys us anything. The source of action for every success or failure is the simple process of spiritual evaluation, choice, and being honest about the choices we make.
The world we live in is constantly in a flux of changing morals and values. We know that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). God may have killed something in our life, but due to the changing cultural values, we’re trying to resurrect something that God already put to death in our life. We need to make up our minds that when God helps us change to stay changed!
We need to crucify our flesh daily so we can walk the correct pathway our moral compass reveals to us. When we die daily (I Corinthians 15:31), we won’t be reliving failures and poor moral decisions that God helped deliver us from yesterday, a month ago, or even years ago. We can walk circumspectly with the Word and be wise in our decisions (Ephesians 5:15). God has given us the tools to live above sin and victoriously in this present world. Are we going to use our compass today?
