“Don’t tell me what’s right or wrong.”

“There is no right and wrong.”

Have you ever said, “That’s not fair” or “That’s wrong”? If so, you have used a standard of right and wrong. In fact, we constantly appeal to some kind of standard.

If every action were morally equivalent, would there be any reason to live a meaningful life? Without morality, there would be no real purpose in anything we do.

“Right and wrong is relative.”

You might say, “Everything is relative.” But is the statement itself always right if everything is indeed relative? Perhaps the claim isn’t as reasonable as it sounds.

How do we ultimately gauge what is important or good? We still need an absolute moral standard to decide what is good or bad, right or wrong.

“We don't need a God to know right from wrong.”

Can each individual decide what’s right and wrong for themselves? Suppose you came to a traffic light and decided that red meant “Go” and green meant “Stop.” You would have made up your own standard, but would you be right?

Can society decide what’s right or wrong? Throughout history, societies have allowed ethnic cleansing, massacres, and wars. When you denounce these and other atrocities, you are also acknowledging that there is a standard higher than what a society decides.

It is impossible for fallible human beings to create an absolute standard. That’s why morality must come from a living and conscious source who is beyond the changing world of human imperfection. God, our creator, is that source. He holds us to his eternal standards of right and wrong.

“Don’t restrict my freedom.”

Imagine that you were a smoker. You know that your health is important, but you also find it hard to quit. If you were able to give up the habit, would you say that your freedom was restricted? Or would you be free from a harmful habit and free to live a healthier life?

God shows us what is wrong to stop us from harming ourselves and those around us. He shows us what is right to help us live out our full potential as his children. The more God helps us to become like him, the more we are able to do the good we desire and reject the evil we abhor. That’s what salvation is.

“ Morality is a bunch of rules, nothing more.”

Right and wrong isn’t just an arbitrary set of rules. Right and wrong defines our relationship with God and the people around us. When we fail to live by our morals, we aren’t right before God and have no peace with others.

The problem is, it’s not possible to completely live up to God’s perfect and absolute standard on our own. That’s why God came as Jesus to restore our relationship with him. If we commit our lives to him, he will give us the power to walk in his truth and his love.

Conclusion

God came to the world as Jesus Christ to help us change our nature so that doing right becomes a freedom and a pleasure rather than a restriction. By letting Jesus into our lives, we build a right relationship with our families, friends, neighbors, and, most importantly, God himself. This is the meaningful and joyful life that God intends for us, as we look forward to being with him forever in heaven.