Why We Must Set Our Morality Bars High- Part I

When we think about morality, we often tell ourselves to avoid the big sins and be nice. Although these goals are good, especially for the novice Christian, they do not strike at the essence of our moral responsibilities. Rather, they can become justifications for lesser sins and lead us into moral relativism. We tell ourselves that we are good people, but all we are doing is setting the morality bar low. Allow me to explain.

Two Analogies

Imagine a man who desires nothing more than to be a couch potato. He does the bare minimum in life and never excels at anything other than being lazy. This man justifies his behavior by telling himself that he is not harming others and that he is always nice to people. He sets the bar low, and he submits to himself as his standard for conduct. He becomes his own truth. Although he easily achieves his goal, he merely exists and never makes himself a better person.

Now, imagine a man who desires to be a doctor. He sets his sights on this profession, goes to school, learns from others on the job, and focuses on making himself a good doctor. This man sets the bar high and submits to the standards for physicians. He takes the tools given to him and applies them to the myriad situations he encounters. By successfully confronting any number of problems and even learning from his failures, he uses his tools and experiences to make himself a better doctor.

(Note: These are only examples.  I am not deriding other jobs, professions, parenting, etc.)

If we apply the first man’s work ethic to moral behavior, we will quickly conclude that this man will either remain in his sins or seek forgiveness only to turn back to them (2 Peter 2:22, RSVCE). He will do this because he has set the morality bar low and does not cooperate with the grace God gave him through forgiveness. Essentially, he rejects grace by refusing to use it.  He submits to himself and, therefore, the standard of moral relativism.

Think about the man who buried the talent his master gave him. Rather than using the talent for its purpose, he did nothing with it. He committed the sin of sloth. So, the master returned and cast the man into the outer darkness (Matthew 25:14-30).

Conversely, if we apply the work ethic of the second man to moral behavior, we can conclude that this man will seek forgiveness and cooperate with grace to become morally perfect. Even if he falls, he will return to God and continue his journey toward moral perfection. He does this because of grace and because he uses it to set his morality bar high. In other words, his submission to God and his cooperation with grace leads to more grace until he completely conquers sin. He rejects relativism and embraces objective moral truths.

Think about the men who doubled their talents (Matthew 25). They submitted to the master’s desire for them to use the talents for their intended purposes. The master returns, sets them over much, and brings them into his joy.

For more on moral perfection, click here.

Jesus Christ, Our Standard Bearer

To understand where we should set our morality bars, we need to look at only one person, Jesus Christ. Jesus gives us the true standard for moral behavior. He became human and died to save us from the wages of sin, which is death. He gives us the grace to increase in holiness and the command to be perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect. Because of His example of humility and self-sacrifice, and His command to be morally perfect, He obliges us to seize upon His grace to morally perfect ourselves.

Difficulty

Everything I have written thus far is easy to say but difficult to practice. However, we have to start in order to finish. Jesus says that we must take up our crosses daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23). He also tells us, “Enter by the narrow gate…. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few (Matthew 7:13). He is telling us up front that the journey will be difficult, but He also tells us that anything is possible with God (Matthew 19:26).

Additionally, He says that His burden is light, and His yoke is easy (Matthew 11:30). He says this because He wants to help us live a virtuous life and because He designed us for His yoke. As those made in the image and likeness of God, we must conform ourselves to Jesus and yoke ourselves to Him. The more we practice His virtues the better His yoke fits. In other words, the more we practice conformity to Christ by walking alongside Him and imitating Him, the more human we become.

We must take up our crosses daily because Satan and his minions erect obstacles to our daily walk with Christ.  But if we put on Jesus’ yoke continuously, He will equip and fortify us to battle Satan and tear down these obstacles.

Of course, the question people inevitably raise is this – How do we become more like Jesus Christ, perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect?

For the answers to this question, keep an eye out for part II.