My youngest son has taken an interest in sign-making.  He’s got the downstairs pretty much covered.  He has labeled most of the rooms and closets so that guests in our home can know that when they walk in the kitchen, they are indeed in the “Kitchen”.  And if you happen to need tooth supplies, just look for the door with the sign “tooth supplies”.

As I watched him this morning making his next sign (which happened to be the “kitchen” sign to the left), I noticed that when he would have to go back and correct a mistake on one of his letters, he’d whisper the word “Band-Aid”.  I can only guess that his mind has made a connection between making a mistake and actually calling it a mistake.

In our culture, it’s becoming harder and harder to be wrong.  After all, if everyone is right and has a right to be right, then what happens to the whole concept of wrong?  We may have speed limits and jaywalking laws to keep us safe, but what about the boundaries that keep us civilized and dare I say it– moral?  As we move forward as a society, I fear that we’re truly moving toward a precipice that is going to be irreparable to us as a people.

Now, if you know me then you know I’m no wound-up fuddy-duddy who doesn’t know how to relax.  Some might say I’m the definition of relaxed.  But what I’m witnessing is our collective abandonment of objectivity in exchange for the more comfortable subjectivity when it comes to what’s right and what’s wrong.

Is it wrong for a husband to abandon his wife?  Yes it is.  Is it wrong for parent to verbally abuse their child?  Yes it is.  Is it wrong for me to steal from you?  Yes it is.  Is it wrong for an adult to have any sexual contact whatsoever with a minor–even a consenting minor?  Yes it is.  Is it wrong to smoke marijuana?  It used to be in most places.  Is it wrong to keep incorrect change the cashier gives you?  Yes it is.  Is it wrong  for a wife to chat online with another man that does for her what her husband does not?  Yes it is.

Through all of those examples, there are some (and many others) where we might be tempted to say, “Well…it depends.”  And this is the slope of ice that we find ourselves currently on.  Instead, we need to know what’s wrong, why it’s wrong and turn away from it.  Its the concept of repentance, and it is to feel sorrow for one’s actions to the point of changing one’s behavior.

2 Chronicles 7:14 says it this way:  “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, pray, seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their land.”

Knowing that something is wrong is one thing.  But we need to go beyond simply knowing and start calling “Band-Aid” and then go to acting upon, with God’s enabling help, the changes that need to be brought so that we can stop doing the wrong thing we are doing.

This isn’t a tie-it-up-with-a-nice-bow kind of blog.  So, I’ll just invite your thoughts.   Go ahead, give them.