Too many people today are having a terrible time figuring out what is bad and what is good. Our current culture confuses the matter more, with different moral codes presented depending on the show, the culture, or even the week. When we don’t have a solid moral compass, we don’t have any clue as to what is good and what is bad. And without that, our world falls apart.
Knowing this, God has given us His word as the moral compass we need. Within that Book, there are myriad lists of the kinds of things that are Good, “virtue lists”, and lists of the kinds of things that are Bad, “vice lists”. These lists range from the very short (“He has told you what is Good and what the Lord requires of you: to live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8) to the very long (I won’t recite the book of Deut. or Leviticus here, but both are basically Vice lists).
Today, we have the earliest vice list in recorded biblical history. And a quick look at it give us some important insights into the expectations of God. Over the next two days, we’ll look at this list and just what it contains, and perhaps as importantly, what it doesn’t.
Here’s the list:
Good: weep for those in trouble, grieve over poverty, hospitality, caring for the homeless.
Bad: lust, lying, adultery, denying justice to workers, not helping the poor/widow/orphan, clothing the needy, put my trust in gold instead of God, idol worship, rejoicing over my enemies misfortune, hiding sin out of fear of others’ opinions.
Tomorrow we’ll look at these more closely. For today, look over this list and see if your righteousness matches that of Job.
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