Our way of doing things and seeing things always seems right – until we actually measure things by God and his righteous and unchanging standards. Then we quickly learn how far off we have been. But too many believers today live as if they and they alone are the arbiter of truth and error, of right and wrong. They decide what is right and then they run with it – regardless if it actually lines up with the will of God as revealed in Scripture. This is a very dangerous place to be in. Indeed, it can be a very good indication that the person living like this is not in fact a Christian at all.

Are you a sensuous Christian?

In order to speak accurately about what is true or false, right or wrong, one needs objective standards by which to measure such things. Without absolute standards by which we can judge, cultures will quickly fall apart. For example we have things such as the rule of law which informs us that we are all equally subject to the law.

We have various types of measurements which help us in everything from baking to construction to travel. We have tuning forks which help us get all our musical instruments in sync. We have universal weights and the like. So much of our life involves measuring up to certain standards.

Life would be chaotic without such external standards of measurement and comparison. At a very simple level, we have agreed upon standards for motorists. A red light informs us to stop while a green light indicates that we may go. At a deeper level, we have laws against murder, so that the universal good of the sanctity of life might be maintained.

But increasingly in the West we are abandoning all notions of objective truth and objective morality. Sure, we still use measuring cups as we seek to bake a cake, and we still use maps or a GPS to tell us how many miles or kilometres we have remaining on our journey.

But when it comes to making choices about what is right and wrong, or even what is true or false, we are more and more using our own personal subjective opinions and tastes as our guide. Instead of relying on the truths of biology, we are telling children if they feel that they are a different sex, they should go for it.

Instead of respecting the property rights of others, we convince ourselves that we can just take stuff that belongs to them. We rationalise our behaviours, because it seems like the right thing to do. How many spouses will run off with another partner because it ‘felt so right’? As we continue to abandon standards of what is true and what is right, we end up doing whatever seems good at the time – no matter how bad such choices may actually be.

The value of universally acknowledged standards is still part of any civilised society. Consider just one example of this. When I first came to Australia, I learned about a major problem this nation had when it came to the size of different railroad tracks. Without uniformity in this, all sorts of trouble arose. As one piece on this says:

Rail gauges in Australia display significant variations, which has presented an extremely difficult problem for rail transport on the Australian continent for over 150 years. As of 2014, there are 11,801 kilometres (7,333 mi) of narrow-gauge railways, 17,381 kilometres (10,800 mi) of standard gauge railways and 3,221 kilometres (2,001 mi) of broad gauge railways. In the 19th century, each of the colonies of Australia adopted their own gauges. However, with Federation in 1901 and the removal of trade barriers, the short sightedness of three gauges became apparent. It would be 94 years before all mainland state capitals were joined by one standard gauge.

Imagine if today every time someone built some new tracks they simply ran with whatever size they felt like using. It would be every man for himself and the end of national train services. But that is where we are now at with so many moral and cultural choices.

It is every man for himself. People decide for themselves what is right and wrong. They tend to let their emotions solely guide them. And trouble always results. While we might expect non-Christians to operate this way, we sadly find plenty of Christians doing exactly the same thing.

I personally know of a number of people who once claimed to be good Christians who decided to ditch their spouse and take up with a new partner – all because it felt so good. Instead of committing themselves to what was right – in this case, to their God and to their wedding vows – they simply ran with what looked good and felt good to them.

Too many trusted their ‘heart’ on such things. ‘Oh, my heart would not lie to me.’ ‘I feel good about this.’ ‘My conscience is clear on this.’ Yeah right. Never mind that Scripture tells us quite clearly that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Never mind that our conscience can become seared, as with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:2). Never mind that believers were never meant to run their lives solely on their fleeting feelings and erratic emotions. But that is just how far too many Christians today operate. The absolutes of Scripture are not their guide, but their own wants and desires – even their own lusts.

Just today I was reading of another person who should have known better. The rather sad story of Samson as found in the book of Judges tells us how he too went with what his eyes saw and what his lusts desired. Consider the episode found in Jud. 14 where he craves a Philistine woman to be his wife. Twice we read that he ran with what was ‘right in his eyes’ (verses 3 and 7).

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