In a recent campaign speech he gave as he tries to secure the 2020 Democratic nomination, former Vice President Joe Biden said he would like to restore morality to government leadership.
Most of us would agree that morality among America’s political leadership is extremely important.
But who gets to decide what is moral?
Is it President Donald Trump?
Is it whomever gets the 2020 Democratic nomination?
Is it the Supreme Court?
Is it Congress?
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What gives anyone else the ultimate vantage point from which to perceive the truth about what is moral for all of us?
When you read the political headlines, morality seems to be the impetus behind the great divisiveness today.
Should we allow our nation’s moral standard to be set by whoever yells the loudest or spends the most money on a political campaign?
Even if we based our standard for morality on the ideals derived from “perfect” human wisdom, it would still be impossible to have a standard everyone would agree on — right?
Yet we spend billions to elect leaders who will legislate our brand of morality.
Meanwhile, most of us can’t stand the mudslinging and wonder if there’s a better way.
But we don’t have to wonder.
Jesus answered this question more than 2,000 years ago when a lawyer asked Him, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?”
God is love — and when we love Him, it follows that we will also love each other.
Jesus said to him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).
Hang the entire law on these two commandments — wow. Why?
God is love — and when we love Him, it follows that we will also love each other.
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Then we don’t need a manmade moral code to keep us from hurting other people — or ourselves.
Loving God isn’t something we can legislate.
We do need moral leadership, but the standard for moral leadership must be irrevocably anchored in our love for God.
Love is the universal language — and when we love God, we speak it and live it.
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