Moral Compass? You’d Better Have One!
By Pastor Ron Buxton
I spent eight years wearing a military uniform, but I was not on active duty in the Armed Forces. Actually, I was part of a cadet program in my youth which provided tremendous leadership training for me. And in that training, I spent more than a week with the U.S. Navy Seals. How cool is that for an impressionable, young man? Now—that training was no joke! It was the S.E.R.E. (Survival. Escape. Resistance. Evasion.) school designed for naval aviators who might find themselves lost behind enemy lines.
In an undisclosed location, in the middle of the night, my platoon arrived more than 50-100 miles removed from civilization. Temperatures were in the bone-chilling single digits, as we hastily were granted adequate lodging for that night. The next several nights, however, we would be sleeping in crude parachute lean-twos. Like I said–no joke!
As a platoon leader, I had some extra responsibility for the young men under my command. One of which was navigating our group through some exercises given to us. And that leads me to where I am going in this article.
Very few tools are as necessary to survival in the wilderness as the simple compass. With a dependable compass in hand, any person can avoid walking in circles–in an attempt to find safety and eventual civilization. Now–those other three training topics: Escape. Resistance. Evasion will have to wait for another possible article. I’m just talking about survival here.
The first time that I heard that expression “moral compass” was in regards to NFL coach Tony Dungy. In case you didn’t know, his leadership and integrity are well-known among his peers. And for those who know coach Dungy– it is no secret that his “moral compass” is the Holy Bible.
However, in the last six months, I have heard that same expression “moral compass” from executives of large tech companies, and even an embattled politician. But I ask the question: How do we know that we actually possess a so-called “moral compass”? I mean–Who’s to say that your “compass” will lead you “out of the woods”? In fact–to begin with–only people who feel “lost” will even pull out a compass. And so, what does that “lost-ness” actually mean? Important philosophical questions.
Judges 21:25 records– “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes”. What that means is that everyone had their own deficient “moral compass” that they were relying on. How do I know that? The Old Testament reports, afterwards, that God’s people got lost in the wilderness of disease, depravity, and death. Frankly, they had abandoned the only dependable “moral compass” ever known to mankind: God’s Word!
Folks—anything other than God’s Holy Bible is insufficient. You see, without the Bible, you’ll never get “un-lost” in this wilderness of life! Allow God’s Word to be your “moral compass”! It’s better advice than any U.S. Navy Seal instructor could ever give you!
