Watching the Moral Spiral

 

What words would accurately portray what we are witnessing in our nation today? This is not a Covid thing – this is an accelerating demise of the culture and moral foundation of our nation.

In a recent article the words “moral spiral” were used.  Apt words!

Over time, much has changed in our culture in many spheres of life. There was a time when our values were based on the scriptures. Speaking from my own upbringing; wealth was not as important as character, discipline of children was more important than their sports, school was about academics (reading, writing, and arithmetic) not social issues, life was understood as “made in the image of God” and therefore valuable, and respect for others was a general rule.

These moral values have spiraled downward in a way that has drastically changed our nation. We have to look to abortion laws as a critical part of this. When we failed to value the life of a perfectly innocent baby we devalued all life and (enough) Christians did not protest this abominable change in our culture.

There is a lot of history that led to “legalized” abortion and since then the spiral has continued.

It appears from a political point of view that “the little guy,” those not in power or with great wealth to influence others, have lives that are completely expendable. There is no (or very little) political ideology currently that values life because it is “made in the image of God” (Genesis 1:26).

This nation has been masked, locked down, threatened with imprisonment in “camps” for failure to comply with the government, embarrassed by political moves that benefit few (if any), had its military spread through the world for various problems that may or may not be considered just causes, and now sit on the verge of what is feared to be a real war.

Is human life valued in any of that? God’s Word says that He breathed life into us (Genesis 2:7) and yet we treat it as if it was “nonessential.” Because God gives life, we do not have the right to take it away without considering Him or His Word.

God calls us to be bold (Proverbs 28:1), to be courageous (Joshua 1:7), to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:14-15), and to expose evil (Ephesians 5;11). No Christian has the time or the ability to attack every problem but we do have the command to live according to God’s law. Start wherever He directs you.  Educate whoever will listen to the teaching of what God’s Word says about life and death, war and illness, about character and obeying His Word.

It seems that we read that we are to “speak the truth in love” as if it means only to our brothers and sisters in the Lord and not outside of the church. But, “How will they know if no one tells them?”  (Romans 10:14)

Will we stand up for godly character? Will we help to protect innocent babies? Will we call an unjust war unjust so others know that it is a biblical principle? Will we point out the hypocrisy of a football stadium filled with unmasked cheers while we mask classrooms of small children every day they are in school?

The moral spiral will not just magically stop spiraling downward.  It must be stopped and that effort must start at the household of faith. Will we repent of our apathy and our fear of standing firm in our faith publicly?

The Lord our God is gracious to those who serve Him, whose words and actions both testify to His power and grace (Matthew 15:8).