On evening on a recent trip to Palm Springs, Sheila and I grabbed our drinks and settled in on our patio to watch the night emerge over the mountain range across from us. As the sky darkened, we spotted a blinking red light in the sky, kind of like an airplane but without moving. UFO perhaps, to hover that that? Then Sheila said, “I think it’s moving a little.” Honestly, it was hard to tell, but we became curious.
The light was right in between two palm trees in the pic but dark, like a V, so we kept our heads steady, and found a spot on the tree that matched the vertical location, and figured out how close the light was to the closest tree for the horizontal. Mixing that unchanging frame of reference with a lot of patience, we noticed it was moving slowly to the right, and slightly down. My guess: the light was a plane flying away from us, and a little to our right. But if the palm trees weren’t there, we never could have noticed the movement.
Of course that has a fairly obvious spiritual connection, about both the overall spiritual life and our cultural values. A consistent frame of reference helps us identify reality, right and wrong. Yes, we have a lot of sources that speak to us about values. Our families. Our society. Our traditions. Ourselves. Our peers and friends. Our traditions. But they all share two qualities: they’re inconsistent, and flawed because they come from flawed humanity.
With that in mind, now can we determine a valid source of values? Maybe we can learn from the palm tress about the need for consistent values that can only come from an extra-human perspective. Here’s three tips on growing a consistent frame of reference to evaluate right and wrong, to choose values.
1 Only God is unchanging, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). Unlike the changing sources mentioned above, God with his love and mercy and justice remains consistent.
2 That God is wiser than we. Having created us, he best knows how we function. So, his advice and commands are to benefit us, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). God desires our best.
3 This God communicates his values, his desires, and how we gain the most rewarding life, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Maybe the first step in building values, or in trying to determine the best in any situation is to see what he’s said about it. Yes, this takes study. But what a self-help roadmap. Keep in mind that not every verse applies to you. Look first at the general commands of the New Covenant. Then look at the positive examples of godly people. Then examine a text to see if it is a specific solution to a specific problem. And then see if this is in the realm of opinion.
Then craft your values, and your actions, by a frame of reference that has authority, doesn’t change, and can be relied on.
Kick Starting the Application
What sources do you use to determine the standards of right and wrong? How did you get them? Have you seen them change over the years? Do you yearn for a frame of reference that can always be counted on for primary values? Has this post influenced your thinking?