Over the past few weeks, we have been talking about the influences that help set or sway our moral compass. As followers of Christ we should look to God for guidance. He gives us this guidance through His Word and by having a personal relationship with Him. So far we have looked at our heart and mind, events in our life and culture. Today we are going to look at family. As I said before, I was raised as a southern baptist. My parents had us in church every Sunday, Sunday night and Wednesday night. There were even a few Tuesday nights and Thursday nights. The rules (“principles”) they set for our household were in accordance to their moral compass. The rules they had in place were extremely strict. “No makeup”, “No shorts”, “No rock and roll music”. The list went on and on. But some of these rules were in place because of events in the world around us. As a young child the event that happened in our neck of the woods was the kidnapping and murder of John Walsh’s son. As a preteen, we traveled through the Atlanta area quite a bit when the ” Children of Atlanta Murders” were going on. As a teen, strangers would use hypodermic needles to make mothers pass out so they could kidnap the teenage daughter. So rules where set in place for my protections. As a child I did not appreciate these rules but in my adult life I have been thankful for the strictness that was in place. My family modeled patience, kindness and love. They studied God’s Word and allowed the Holy Spirit to empower them with the wisdom to discern right and wrong choices of raising a family. When the life around them was unclear and the actions of others was not what they wanted for their family. They leaned on God to direct their path.
At the start of this series I joined an event that proved helpful with their comments on the influences of setting their own moral compass. What I saw was family and religion played a strong part in influencing where they set their moral compass today. No matter whether your childhood was good or bad, these are the experiences that we bring into our adulthood. They help us set principles in which we live by. When we set our moral compass by the principles we live by, the reflection of who we are and our character will shine through.
How did your family influence the setting of your moral compass?
In His Love, Crisi