Moral Deafness Leads To Disaster

Moral Deafness Leads To Disaster

Charles Colson

READ Jeremiah 14:1-17:27

SITUATION Jeremiah prophesied drought, famine, and days of disaster for God's people.

OBSERVATION Sin requires judgment. Sin can distort our judgment of good and evil. God calls us to repent and to have moral outrage for violation of his holiness.

INSPIRATION Where is our sense of moral outrage? Perhaps our moral sensibilities have been dulled because of today's instant communications. We sit mesmerized in front of our TVs unable to turn the sets off, so we turn our minds off instead.

Over time, so much trash is heaped upon us that we come to expect and accept it; the bizarre become commonplace to discern good from evil.

The brilliant essayist Charles Krauthammer, citing economist Thomas Sowell sums up our predicament beautifully. "The inability to make moral distinctions is the AIDS of the intellectuals: and acquire immune deficiency syndrome...moral blindness of this caliber requires practice. It has to be learned."

In a culture with moral AIDS, words lose all meaning or they are manipulated to obscure meaning...But when words lose their meaning, it is nearly impossible for the Word of God to be received. If sin and repentance means nothing, then God's grace is irrelevant. Our preaching falls on deaf ears.

This moral deafness leads to disaster. The Scriptures tell us it was when people accepted King Ahab's gross evils as "trivial" that fearsome judgment befell ancient Israel.

Certainly evil is to be expected in a fallen world. What is not expected is for a holy people to accept it. If Christ is Lord of all. Christians must recapture their sense of moral outrage. (From Who Speaks for God by Charles Colson)

APPLICATION What views about sin have softened so that they are even acceptable among Christians? What areas of life has this affected? Male-female relationships? Social settings? Family life? Don't be drawn in by the world's standards. Be morally pure in your dating or marriage relationships. Be bold in keeping a high standard. Don't let Satan wear down your defenses.

EXPLORATION Endurance--Philippians 3:13-16; 4:11-13; Jude 17-25.

SCRIPTURE: "Important people and common people will die in the land of Judah. No one will bury them or cry for them or cut himself or shave his head to show sorrow for them. No one will bring food to comfort those who are crying for the dead. No one will offer a drink to comfort someone whose mother or father has died.

"Do not go into a house where the people are having a feast to sit down to eat and drink, because this is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: I will soon stop the sounds of joy and gladness and the happy sounds of brides and bridegrooms in this place. This will happen during your lifetime.

"When you tell the people of Judah these things, they will ask you, 'Why has the Lord said these terrible things to us? What have we done wrong? What sin have we done against the Lord our God?'

"Then say to them: 'This is because your ancestors quit following me,' says the Lord. 'And they followed other gods and served and worshiped them. Your ancestors left me and quit obeying my teaching. But you have done even more evil than your ancestors. You are very stubborn and do only what you want to do; you have not obeyed me. So I will throw you out of this country and send you into a land that you and your ancestors never knew. There you can serve other gods day and night, because I will not help you or show you any favors....' Jeremiah 16: 6-13

The Devotional Bible - Experiencing the Heart of Jesus - Max Lucado General Editor, New Century Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers