What Are Morals?
Answer: Morals are standards for right and wrong living. Morals are rules that we follow for doing one thing and not another.
Different people live by many different sets of morals – what they think is best or fair or right.
But only what God says about these things is right for all people everywhere all the time.
God has only one set of morals that he wants everyone to follow.
A person who lives by God’s morals doesn’t steal because that’s God’s standard, not just because the person doesn’t like to steal.
Key verse: Don’t you know that those doing such things can’t share in God’s Kingdom? Don’t fool yourselves. If you live in sin, worship idols, are an adulterer or homosexual you can’t share his Kingdom. (1 Corinthians 6:9)
Related verses: Ephesians 5: 1,5; James 1:21
Related questions: What does ethics mean? Is ethics like ethnic food? Are morals those animals that dig in the ground and make holes in your garden?
Note to parents: It may be difficult to explain the difference between a nice person and a moral person.
A nice person is concerned about what other people think and doesn’t want to hurt other people’s feelings.
A moral person is concerned about what God thinks and wants to follow God’s rules for thinking, talking, and doing what is right all the time.
How Can I Tell Right From Wrong?
Answer: Anything that goes against what God is like is wrong. We can discover what God is like by reading his Word, the Bible.
The Bible also tells us what God wants us to do. So we can tell right from wrong by asking: Will this disobey a law that God has given us? (For example, “no stealing,” “no lying,” “love your neighbor,” or “honor your father and mother.”) Anything that breaks one of God’s laws is wrong.
If we are faced with a choice that God hasn’t given us a law about (or if we don’t know where to find it in the Bible), we can ask: Will doing this go against my conscience? We can also ask: Will it hurt someone? If the answer is yes to either question, then most likely we should not do it.
Another question to ask is: Why am I doing this? If it’s only because of pressure from friends or because of fear, then it may not be right. This is when we must carefully consider the choice that we have to make. We must think about what we know about God, pray for wisdom, and make the best choice we can.
Key verse: A good man produces good deeds from a good heart. And an evil man produces evil deeds from his hidden wickedness. Whatever is in the heart overflows into speech. (Luke 6:45)
Note to parents: We need to cultivate character in our children and not just give them rules for behavior, because most of our moral acts come from our tendencies and habits.
So we should teach our children the principles behind the precepts and ultimately point them to the person who embodies them, God himself.
That is how our children will learn to tell right from wrong.