By CHRIS FIELDS
Regaining our moral health
Morality is a specific system of values and principles of conduct establishing a distinction between right and wrong. As Christians, our morality is off. Not just Christians but humanity in general — but the reason humanity’s morality is off is because Christian morality is off. Day after day, month after month, year after year, humanity continues to exist with no distinction being made to adhere to true morality, which is only found in the Word of God — and because that truth, which is the only truth, is muddied and watered down, the world is burning.
Because God’s truth, which is the true morality humanity was meant to live by, is being made to fit and conform to humanity, right and wrong changes from person to person and from race to race. As Christians, we are called and expected to be transformed by the truth of God’s Word, and our truth is no longer valid when it doesn’t directly line up with the truth of God’s Word. His truth is to be applied to every aspect of our lives. We as Christians are in a unique position to dictate all morality because we are the representatives of the only one true King, and His truth is to be our morality. When our truth is relative, morality becomes a matter of opinion. That is where we are in our world today.
Humanity’s morality is whatever it wants to be, and Christians cannot seem to come together as one body serving the only Truth that has ever existed. This fact is relevant to any interpretation of right and wrong dealing with all aspects of life, from our health to our family life to our work life and so on.
I know this is a health and wellness column, but health is holistic, not just superficial, and all aspects of life affect our well-being. As Christians, our moral code is this: To love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. A lot of us understand the second part of this commandment as to do unto others as you would have them do unto you — you know, the “golden rule,” right? But this commandment from Christ to Christians is so much deeper than that, and to understand this verse is key to living the life for which we are intended.
The first part of the commandment is where the command could stop, with the last part for clarity. When we love God with all our heart, soul and mind, we shouldn’t have room for leftovers, because all means all. That’s complete surrender, and in complete surrender, He loves us so much better than we could ever love ourselves, igniting a desire — His desire, strategically placed in us — to love our neighbor. He is our Creator. He has the blueprints to us and who we truly are.
Loving Him first brings everything into perspective. It brings our life and reason for being into perspective, His perspective. Everything that is truly you, is in Him. His ways for you, His pre-paved path, His direction, His thoughts and plans for you, are light years higher than yours and can take you millions of miles further than anything you can ever dream of, creating a tangible excitement that oozes out of you, encapsulating everyone you encounter; spreading like a wildfire during the heat of summer; allowing Christ’s love the freedom to flow and set ablaze your neighbor’s will of God for their life; creating a perpetual cycle of the love, the glory and the very essence of God, commanding humanity’s attention with our display of true morality.
I know this may seem to have nothing to do with health, but it has everything to do with health. The love of Christ is to be our foundation, and when that foundation is disrupted, it causes all types of problems spiritually, mentally, physically, locally, nationally and internationally. Christians, it is time for us to unite and stand and show the world what true love looks like, because only Christ’s love can heal this world. The world needs it.
Chris Fields is the founder and executive director of H.E.A.L. Mississippi and a graduate in kinesiology with advance studies in nutrition. He serves as a clinical exercise physiologist/CPT and is credentialed in Exercise Is Medicine through American College of Sports Medicine.