No one likes to talk about the law much anymore. And values—well, they’ve become a cultural antique! Today’s education system doesn’t instruct children on what is right and wrong. Instead, they learn “values clarification.” And the “values” that are “clarified” may not be yours or mine, and almost certainly will not be God’s.
A college religion instructor uses a peculiar little test to illustrate to his students that each of us operates under an innate system of values. He offers them a list of fifteen items and asks them to rank them using whatever scale they choose. They review the list—“mouse, boy, sun, angel, ant, crab, Norwegian pine, corn, amoeba, hamburger, potato, Rolls Royce, Moby Dick, Taj Mahal, the idea of good”—and plunge in. The results, he says, are always fascinating. But the fact that the students do rank the items somehow illustrates that a value system—even a subconscious one—is at work.
How does the Christian make value judgments? He relies on God’s word, which is His law. The fact that Christ died for our sins does not give us license to sin more, or to ignore His commands. In fact, Paul argues, it is grace that establishes God’s law in our hearts and makes His values our own.
MEMORY VERSE
Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the law (Romans 3:31)
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE
Genesis 29-30; John 16
