Ethics

Ethics: Moral principles that govern a person’s or group’s behavior.

Do you ever think about what makes up your character?  Last week was all about the Super Bowl.  There was also a lot of controversy over deflated footballs from a previous game.  If you think about it; someone did something unethical.  We all know about it; but whoever did it or knew about it won’t fess up.  So now there is an investigation into who is responsible.

 

Why do we have such a hard time being ethical? I think it has to do with our character.  There is a quote by Frank Outlaw that I revised slightly.  This is what it says:  

“Thoughts become words; words become actions; actions become habits; habits become character; character becomes who you are.”

If we are to become more like God we will need to examine ourselves and most of the work needs to occur in our heart.  The heart is an amazing organ that keeps us alive, but sometimes our heart is damaged.  Sometimes what we put into our heart damages everything around us.  When we think bad things about another person long enough; eventually those thoughts will turn into words.  So we say hateful things to another person and then we make it worse with our actions.  When we repeat those actions over and over again they become a habit.  That habit then becomes who we are, or in other words, our character. 

We have to ask ourselves; What do we want to become?  Do we want to be more like God or more like the world? Do we want to sacrifice our ethics and character?  The next question is the most important.  What will we gain by sacrificing our ethics and character? 

If we sacrifice our moral principles we lose.  Our character becomes tarnished and no amount of polishing will make it pretty.  One of the best stories of this is David.  David had everything going for him and then he saw Uriah’s wife.  He sacrificed his ethics and lost.  He lost his son because of it and the sword never left his house after that.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, we live in a world where cheating, lying and lack of character and ethics abound.  We read every day about people who think they are getting away with being unethical.  I have a responsibility to live my life in a way that reflects You.  If I am doing that, my character will become who I am.  It will define me.  Give me the courage to speak and live the truth even when the consequences will not be good.     

      

Scripture: Nathan’s Parable and David’s Confession

Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’”

So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. however, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” Then Nathan departed to his house.  2 Samuel 12:1-15