A Christian counselor was helping...
Illustration
A Christian counselor was helping a group of parents deal with the weighty matter of moral instruction. "Look at how the scriptures instruct," she said, smiling. "They don't just deal in oughts. They deal in the whys."
"Here," she said, turning to Hebrews 13 as an example. "Why should we show hospitality to strangers? We should show hospitality not just because it's some duty laid upon us, some heavy 'ought' we must follow. No, we're to show hospitality to strangers because in that lies blessing. It's a part of the way God has made us."
"Why should we be faithful in the marriage bond?" she said, pausing a moment before she continued. "We should be faithful not just because we somehow 'ought to' or 'must' or because our grandparents once said everybody should be that way. We should be faithful because when faithfulness is broken, there is pain. As much as our society tries to deny it, there is terrible pain."
"We should be free from the passionate desire for money. Why? Not because freedom from materialism is some mysterious, unexplained obligation laid upon us. We need to live free from the love of money because only in that freedom can we discover total dependability of the everlasting God."
"The Bible gives us the perfect model for moral instruction," she concluded. "It's not the 'oughts' that teach us most deeply, it's the 'whys.' And the 'whys' invariably point us in the direction of blessing and fullness of life."
"Here," she said, turning to Hebrews 13 as an example. "Why should we show hospitality to strangers? We should show hospitality not just because it's some duty laid upon us, some heavy 'ought' we must follow. No, we're to show hospitality to strangers because in that lies blessing. It's a part of the way God has made us."
"Why should we be faithful in the marriage bond?" she said, pausing a moment before she continued. "We should be faithful not just because we somehow 'ought to' or 'must' or because our grandparents once said everybody should be that way. We should be faithful because when faithfulness is broken, there is pain. As much as our society tries to deny it, there is terrible pain."
"We should be free from the passionate desire for money. Why? Not because freedom from materialism is some mysterious, unexplained obligation laid upon us. We need to live free from the love of money because only in that freedom can we discover total dependability of the everlasting God."
"The Bible gives us the perfect model for moral instruction," she concluded. "It's not the 'oughts' that teach us most deeply, it's the 'whys.' And the 'whys' invariably point us in the direction of blessing and fullness of life."
