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Our
Moral Compass
In
1974 during the Watergate scandal when President Nixon
was forced to resign,
one of President Nixon's advisors, Jeb McGruder, was
convicted of burglary and cover-up. When he was
sentenced, the Judge asked him, "How could
this happen? How could you fall such as
you did?"
McGruder
replied, "Somewhere
along the way, I lost my MORAL COMPASS and with it,
the ability to navigate my life."
Flash
forward 32 years to 2006 in another prominent scandal
involving the Enron Corporation.
Andrew Fastow, former chief financial officer,
testified in court that his former bosses, Kenneth Lay
and Jeffrey Skilling were aware of the Enron's
financial troubles in 2001.
Fastow, however, also came across as a deeply
flawed character, whose credibility was attacked by
the defense.
"You
must be consumed with an insatiable greed, is that
fair to say?" asked Mr. Daniel Petrocelli, lead
lawyer for Skilling. "I
believed I was extremely greedy," Mr. Fastow
responded. "And
I lost my MORAL COMPASS and I very much regret some of
the things that I did.” *
The
unfortunate reality is that many have not “lost”
their moral compass, they have deliberately thrown it
away! And when
the moral compass is discarded, as McGruder and Fastow
confessed, serious mistakes are made, feelings
of regret set in, and the ability to correctly
navigate life is lost.
There
are many standards of morality (moral compasses)
in the world today, but ONLY ONE standard that is
reliable… GOD'S standard!
The
basis for the ONE TRUE "moral compass" is
the Almighty Holy God
(1 Peter 1:15-16) AND His revealed Word.
The Psalmist declared that God’s Word is
our moral compass:
“Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my
path” (Ps 119:105).
When
God’s moral compass is ignored or rejected, sin,
regret, and moral confusion abound.
Each and every person has failed to live
according to God’s moral compass perfectly.
“For ALL have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God” (Rom 3:23).
But
God loves us so much that He gave His Son to die for
the sins of the whole world (John 3:16; 1 John 2:2).
Through Christ we have forgiveness and the
opportunity to redirect our lives to living according
to God’s "moral compass".
God
will forgive those who: believe
in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sin in repentance
(Acts 17:30-31), confess
Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized
(immersed) in Jesus’ name for forgiveness of sins
(Acts 2:38). AND He
will continue to cleanse those who strive to follow
the directions given by His "moral
compass" - the Word of God (1 John 1:7).
Won’t
YOU accept the ONLY
reliable Compass to guide you as you navigate through
life?
THEN,
by God’s grace, you will reach God’s intended
destination for you: ETERNAL LIFE in heaven.
David
A. Sargent,
Minister
Church
of Christ at Creekwood
1901
Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
*“Fastow
Testifies Lay Knew of Enron's 'Serious Problems'“ by
Alexei Barrionuevo and Vikas Bajaj in The
New York Times, March 8, 2006, http://www.thecsrgroup.com
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