Seeing Through the Moral Fog

Have you ever had your vision compromised? There are too many things that can mess with our eyes to name them all. There is biology, time, and damage. Our vision may be hindered by the smokey remnants of a grease fire as it hangs in the air like grimy fog. Allergies reek havoc with my eyes. Sometimes, they keep my contacts clouded over. It's a frustrating thing when your vision isn't clear.

However, some of us live with the impairment so long or its impact was so subtle and slow moving, that we didn't notice it. Usually, there is that event which awakens us to the fact that we can't see like we once could. It's not always dramatic, but it is always definite.

Moral clarity is a lot like the eye. In fact, Jesus uses the eye as a metaphor in this way. He says, "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light" (Matt. 6:22, HCSB). If we use our eyes to fill our minds with filth, it is like walking in darkness.

Our culture likes to think that the majority of life is gray area. The black or white, wrong or right mentality is slowly fading to gray. There was a time when men (and women) were expected to keep their promises. Failure to do so was seen as a weakness in character. Now vows made in a previous, happy experience can be freely broken (usually without flinching) for the pursuit of a newer, happier experience.

A fog has settled on the eyes of our culture, and for this reason they see everything in gray. We haven't completely lost our moral vision. Although it appears it is getting harder for our culture to make out the details. The shapes of the larger issues still come into view, even when our culture finds it difficult to focus.

Just as we have our physical eyes checked regularly, we should also check our spiritual eyes. We can have them adjusted by reading the Word and doing what it says. From the Word, we learn what is good and what is bad. If our eyes are good, we'll walk in the light. I hope you are letting the Word shape the way you see the world.

Excellence of Character

In 1 Peter 1:5, Peter encourages us to add goodness to our faith. The type of goodness Peter had in mind is moral excellence. But what is moral excellence? Moral excellence is not only doing what is right, but it is also desiring right over wrong, good over evil, and holiness over commonness.

How do become morally excellent? Do we get it by hard work? Do we get it by following the rules? Paul tells us that we get it through faith in Christ, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor. 5:21, NIV). Peter expresses it similarly, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and grace" (2 Pet. 1:3).

Moral excellence is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ. It is his righteousness that is credited to us by God's grace. Apart from Christ, all of our moral acts are like filthy rags before the Lord.

But moral excellence isn't perfection. It is a process through which we increase in our likeness to Christ. Job was a good example of this. God says of Job that he was "blameless and upright," and that he feared God and shunned evil (see Job 1:8).

In Christ, we are called to walk in faith. True faith has an obedience component. We cannot truly say we trust Christ if we don't obey him. As we walk in the Spirit by faith, we learn to put off the old things. We learn to say no to ungodliness (shun evil) and delight in righteousness (fear God).

Galatians 5:16-26 does an excellent job of contrasting a life devoted to the flesh against a life devoted to Christ. Colossians 3:1-14 also paints a powerful picture of a life fixed on Christ.

There is no doubt that Christ's followers are to walk in moral excellence. The good news is that Christ enables them to do so. We have everything we need for life and godliness. Are you pursuing excellence of character?