Joshua 24:15
15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
How would we describe the world today if we should write about it for future generations to read? Are we a people who are moving toward God or away from Him toward worthless idols?
One of my favorite visualizations is when a pastor explained the moral decline of our culture today. He said imagine you are out on a lake in a sail boat and there are dozens of other sail boats around you. You find yourself comparing where you are with your sailboat in relationship to those around you. Finally, you were able to see how far from shore you have drifted. This is how we look at the morality of our country. We are comparing ourselves to other countries or to other races, religions, or even to our neighbors. But we lost our shoreline, our starting benchmark.
We say things like, “I know our divorce rate is better than that of Sweden’s.” or “Yes, our country’s debt is high, but look at Greece.” “I go to church occasionally but hey, Bob doesn’t go at all.” Or “Hey, I stayed in the marriage longer than most of my friends.” or “Come on. All men look at these on the Internet.” or “I have to work this much overtime, so I can compete in the office.” or “If I don’t exaggerate a little in our presentation, we won’t land this account.”
Where is your baseline set to guide your moral compass? Where do you set your anchor to keep you from drifting? Rather than comparing himself to where his friends or foes were on life’s path, the pastor compared himself to where God wanted him to be.
One thing to consider when setting your anchor is whether or not it will hold. Will it keep you steady and in place? If you set your anchor in soft ground, you will begin to drift away. Many times, I have done this when boating and after a while, I noticed we had drifted 20 feet from our original spot. It was subtle and went unnoticed at first, until I took time to survey my surroundings and notice our location had changed.
Another interesting thing I noticed when boating is that it was harder to get my bearings if I was drifting when there were no other boats around to gauge myself. In life, we experience the same. If we are all alone, what then will anchor us to our true selves? On the other hand, when we know our anchor is set in solid ground, we can find peace and tranquility.
The moral decline of our world, our country, our states, our cities, our businesses, our schools, and our families, is that we haven’t set our anchor in solid ground. We are drifting, yet at the same time consoling ourselves by comparing ourselves to each other. But if you will stop long enough to survey your surroundings, you will see how far you have drifted from the shoreline.
Just a Thought…
