The natural mind in mankind wishes to believe that we can live by our desires and do as we think best, and that our ways will be “not that bad”. We resent the idea of God’s judgment because we don’t think our ways are as bad as God says. What we fail to appreciate is that what this really means is that we are content in a minimal morality, content without the full standard of good.

When we hear of God’s holiness and perfection we often imagine a miserable perfectionism that is impossible to please, a perfectionism that is basically pointless, and needlessly demanding. How this lie blinds our minds from the reasonableness of God!

When we talk about the holiness of God, and perfection, what we should understand is that goodness is like the organs of a body. Goodness requires the health and working of all these unique parts in order to sustain the life of true goodness.

If my heart doesn’t work, I die. If my lungs are sick, I struggle to breathe and am miserable. If my kidneys shut down, I become very ill and die. Every part of the body has a very important function, a unique function, and this is the same when it comes to righteousness. If I do not walk in all it takes for real goodness, then these vital missing pieces result in the loss of the whole.

The trouble for us is how we are satisfied in such a limited and minimal morality. That we scratch the surface of justice, truth, wisdom, humility, service, honor, and purity, but we do not seek the full depths of these, or all of them.

Instead, we set up pillars of philosophy and very limited morals, and we heedlessly live by these.

What this reveals of us is that not only do we not do what it takes for true good, full good, but we are content without these things. That we are self-content without God, without His judgments, without His wisdom, without His justice, without truth, without true religion and godliness, and without holiness.

Additionally, we are filled with self-righteousness: satisfied in our very limited morality and refusing to seek anything higher than this. How can we really be good if this is the case?

We make ourselves the measuring line, and do not allow God the right place of being the true weigher of all human hearts. Discerning the true substance of our ways, and allowing Him to direct us into what is truly good.

Many in humanity feel a desire for what is noble, wise, and virtuous, the problem is that they do not see how small this still is when it is not taken root in God—they do not recognize the God of these very things.

It is not just the desire of these things that counts, but what we do with them. What is often the case is that we actually use these things in rebellion against God, in this self righteousness that doesn’t listen to God telling us what true righteousness entails, and we use these things to cast God off, rather than turn to Him and see that He is the Home for these things.

Our nature cries out for these things to lead us to God, who is the foundation of them. Yet we often abuse these things for pride, contempt of others, and in order to oppose God. To use these things like weapons against an enemy, working against God rather than with Him. In fact, we often actually use these things to neglect the true work of righteousness, by being self-satisfied and judging ourselves not having to do this work. Therefore these things of light in us can turn into sin and darkness.

The sad truth is that we would rather play at morality, play at intellect and philosophy, play at debate and strife, to play with the swelling music of nobility and self sacrifice, rather than do the true humble works of godliness, and pay the real cost of what it takes to walk in righteousness.

We think our sins are not that bad when we don’t murder or physically harm, when we are filled with contempt of others, self righteousness, pride, and neglecting the work it really takes for truth and righteousness in this world. There is a very high cost to our ways.