Moral Compass

If our thoughts were electromagnetism and God was north and the devil was south, which direction would your moral compass be pointing to? Would it be true north, pointing directly towards God and leading others in that direction? Or, would it be mañana for you Jesus, I am taking a sin vacation down south?  

Esther* is 85 yrs old. She is an intelligent and caring woman who is always praying for others but, it seems like her moral compass is askew. During Covid lockdown she has watched a lot of 📺 those television preachers. It has comforted her a great deal. There is power in the message of the Bible. The trouble is she never really sees the meaning of that message in her daily life. She is too busy being vain, haughty or a nice agreeable old lady. She has a lot of worldly social posturing positions.

The problem is that in so doing, her little moral compass has started to shift. She appears no different from ever other stuck-up Westchester County, New York maven who likes to put on airs. However, she still wants to be used of God. She recognizes this too. She has told me multiple times,”I’m not really a mature Christian. you know it and I do too.” Doesn’t she seem kind of comfortable where she is at? 

We all get comfortable where we are at. We get set in our ways, or we develop some bad habits. When habits form it can be hard to break them. Some things that come to mind: bad posture, staying up too late, smoking or drinking. I can go on: comfortable in a job that we should leave, dating some one who is obviously not right for us. There are a lot of bad spiritual habits too. 

Missing church, or not engaged in the process. Whether you attend church in person or through a live-streaming event, we should all be on time. We should be prepared. Breakfast should be over. Our Bibles should stand ready to reference and we should be dressed as if we were meeting in-person. Do not be making tea during the opening music!

I became aware that Esther was doing that because I had to livestream some church services and phone her to give her audio since, like many elderly folks she does not have an up-to-date device able to access our church’s online events. Esther misses the in-church discussions of sermons at the church’s coffee hours and, after church lunches with Christian friends. With less and less live time at church, the temptation to compromise has begun. Esther is like the early church in Cyprus, readily accepting faith but, not inclined towards spiritual maturity. Her moral compass was never quite pointing where it should have been, and now since Covid it has been getting a bit worse. However, she still had a desire to do better and asked me for some direction.

Prakash* has had several life changing years. He went off to college three years ago. He left behind an unsatisfactory home and social life if you hear him tell it. Although, he loves his family tremendously, he always felt a disconnect. His father had an enormously successful import/export business, and his mother had a busy dermatology practice. His grandmother kept things running smoothly at home. He felt there was no room or place ever made to meet his emotional needs. His family did not place a lot of value on doing that either.

He did well in his Westchester county high school and graduated near the top of his class. That is no small feat in this competitive environment. However, his social life was another story. He really had no friends at all. The closest thing he had to a peer relationship was with Carly* whom he met in junior year. She was a rebellious black clad, green hair streaked, student with failing grades.

She was an outsider and he was an outsider so, it worked. She tried to convert him to her 🖤 emo way of life and he tried to get her to study. They started to have boyfriend/girlfriend feelings for each other in their senior year of high school. How far that went, I have no idea. All I know is that this did not culminate in a prom date and that it fell apart when he went off to college. 

A most amazing thing happened during his freshman year at the university. He became aware of a campus meeting of Christians and he was curious about it. He was trying to find some meaning to his life and wondered if this could help. He was a little bit daunted because he had not heard any good things about Christians at his Westchester County schools or in the entertainment that he voraciously consumed. In fact, it was the exact opposite. 

Pushing through his initial misapprehensions proved to be a life-changing event for him when he made a decision to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He is now even contemplating baptism! He has not only made friends but, he has learned the Christian meaning of that term and he is no longer the morose teenager that I knew. He has joined a Christian discussion group and Bible study on campus. 

Although Prakash is back doing in-classroom studies, he spent some time back home when the virus first hit and shut everything down. That is when he abruptly approached me at a local supermarket. I hardly knew Prakash. I had become acquainted with his father and mother when I did a little import/export business. Then, when I ran into them at some local classical music venues, we got better acquainted.

His parents would stop and chat with me when Prakash was growing up. He seemed shy and uncommunicative. Now, his demeanor had completely changed and his boldness towards me was surprising. He re-introduced himself, in case I did not remember him, and he asked me a rather unexpected question. “Are you a Christian?’ What with the unexpected question and the garbled way that it came through his mask, I thought that I had misunderstood.”

For housewives like me, I think the supermarket is the modern day agora. I can’t believe all the things that happen to me there. Anyone remember my old blog post, Forgiveness at the Supermarket? My hesitation caused him to repeat his question, “are you a Christian?” He said this rather loudly the second time and some people looked our way. He had my attention now. Thoughts vaguely ran through my head such as, are the soldiers coming now? Or, how did he know that? I imagined his father telling him, son she is a nice lady who knows a lot about classical music but she is one of those crazy Christians, so be careful!

When I affirmed my status as a believer, a look of relief came over him and his eyes went from a squint to relaxed and his posture relaxed. How the rest of his face looked, I can not say. If I had to pick him out in a lineup, I can only give his height, weight and those features above his mask. Thank God, I don’t know any believers in town and I need some godly counsel. 

I had a lot of questions for him but, now was not the time. I listened as he described his past relationship with Carly, his conversion story and finally about his current dilemma. Since coming back to town, he had become re-entangled in this sorted and difficult relationship. He felt drawn to her like a magnet which was helping point his compass due south.

As I thought of Esther and Prakash and endeavored to give each of them some godly counsel I couldn’t help but think of the many ways that Paul dealt with these exact situations. Paul in his first letter to the church of Thessalonica said this, But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children- 1Thessalonians  2:7. I believe this so aptly describes the process of teaching either a new believer such as Prakash or an immature believer such as Esther. I should try to be patient and teach them the way that I did my young children. I would spend a lot of time sounding our letters and words with them. B-B-B, say B-A-L-L, now say S-P-A-GH-E-T-T-I! I spent a lot of time on that last one. 

So many churches focus on bringing lost souls to the Lord and then fail to properly teach and help that individual to grow in their new found faith. My church is not like that. My pastor is focused on teaching the Bible to new and old believers alike. He preaches and teaches the Bible. So many people are inmature Christians because they fail to study the Bible.

I kept that in mind before I opened my mouth to speak to either Esther or Prakash. I gave each of them homework which was to study Chapter 4 in Ephesians. It is instructive and thought-provoking on the topic of Christian maturity. For Esther a long-time believer, it was time to tell her gently but truthfully how to move forward. That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive- Ephesians 4:14. My hope for Esther is expressed in the following verse of Ephesians, But speaking the truth in love, many grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ- Ephesians 4:15. 

I asked Prakash if he is attending church in his hometown and he answered in the negative. He was however, live-streaming services in his college town quietly in his bedroom so his parents and grandmother could not hear it. I asked him if either his family or Carly knows that he is a Christian. The look of tension came right back into his eyes, and his body tensed immediately. He began to breath rapidly behind his mask. 

No, I haven’t told anyone here in ********. I will though. I have been praying for God to help me have the courage and the right words to explain it. I let Prakash know that his testimony to me was quite compelling. I also let him know of a christ-centered church that was a few blocks from his house. I invited him to my church too even though it was not as close. I commiserated on the difficulty of sharing our faith with others. 

There would be turmoil when he shared this news with his Hindu family. As for Carly, I shared with Prakash my sincere hope that sharing the gospel message would be a lifeline to a young lady who was looking for some meaning in her life. I told him that I would be praying for him and then it was time to check out before my lettuce wilted.

I did not see Prakash again until a recent mid-winter school brake. During his return home, guess who he ran into? Yes, he ran into Carly. Rather than tell her he was a Christian, he fell back into his former mindset of dysfunction. Instead of a new life in Christ for her, it was the old life of sin for him. Now, his moral compass was completely reversed again. I could see it on his face.

I wondered what had happened to him. He looked a bit more closed, and a little bit meaner. Even though he was trying to dodge me or pretend he did not know me in the supermarket, I went right down that aisle with an arrow that said I was going in the wrong direction and chased him down. He did not seem happy to see me and he was more than a little embarrassed it seemed. Prakash, how are you, and how did everything go with your family and Carly? He answered that he was in a hurry and he really did not want to talk about it.

I told him that I understood. Not only that but, I had experienced the persecution for being a believer that he had. He seemed to soften to me. He told me that Carly and he had hooked back up again. Even his language let me know that things were not okay with Prakash. Hooked up Prakash, are you in a godly relationship? He let me know that he was going through some things right now and he is not where he was in our last conversation. 

I again reiterated that I totally understood but to please read Ephesians chapter 4 this evening when he had a moment because I think it would help him to understand the spiritual stage that he was in a little better. I quickly pulled up this Bible portion on my phone for his consideration.

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness, but, ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind- Ephesians 4:17-23.

Is that a tear I saw falling down his mask? Good luck Esther and Prakash!

* the name of a town and people have been changed or deleted for their privacy.