Morals and Models

One of the many blessings in my life was to go to RUF Summer Conference in the summer of 2002 (last year). At this conference, I attended a four-day seminar on hermeneutics that was taught by Rev. Jeremy Jones of Emory University RUF (that's in Georgia) and Rev. Bill Boyd of the University of Texas RUF. About three months later, I attended UT RUF on August 28, 2002, since UT was starting a week before we were and I wanted to hang out with some of my friends from Austin.

In both the hermeneutics seminar and in RUF itself, Bill spoke about how many of the struggles with sin that Christians face are due to a dichotomy in the morals of their lives and the models in their lives. To illustrate this, Bill talked about how many Christians want to live sexually pure lives, but they constantly fill their mind with the music of the thrice-married Jennifer Lopez, who has no such standard for herself, and whose lack of moral values impacts her music, and thus fills one's mind when you immerse yourself in that music. That doesn't mean it's wrong to listen to Jennifer Lopez, only that one needs to be "on guard", so to speak, when doing so. You're going to give yourself a greater struggle if you make Lopez a model in your life, because she has completely different morals than the morals that you are trying to live by.

This seems to be a common problem--I see it in my life as well. I have a set of standards that I want to live up to, but allow myself to look up to people who don't necessarily live by the same standards. In my life, this problem is not as great as in the lives of many of my friends, but it's still there. Why is it that I sometimes feel like I want to be like people who constantly do things with which I disagree? The answer to this question in my case is rather obvious...because they are "cool" and "in" and I think (foolishly) that I will fall into place better amongst the group here if I do that.

We, as Christians, need to make Jesus Christ both the source of our morals and our model. We should be an imitator of Christ, not of figures that this world has set up for us. Christ did not go around seeking to fit in with the world, He went around seeking to change the world and redeem the world. We should be of the same attitude.

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. ²And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:1-2, ESV)

Luke