Not A Matter Of Right And Wrong
12 the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light; 13 let us live honourably as in the day, not in revelling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy. 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Romans 13:12-14, New Testament, The Bible.
Off the cuff remarks can be dangerous. We inadvertently say things we would never dream of saying in a more considered manner. These “Freudian slips” can also reveal deep, unsettling truths about ourselves or about our view of the world. Last week, the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, made an off the cuff remark in response to a reporter’s question. He said that “it is no longer a matter of right and wrong”. I confess that I have forgotten whether the context was the uproar concerning the so-called “loop-hole” exploited by a Palestinian family to gain entry to the UK or the aftermath of the White House ambush of President Zelensky. But, the remark stands out as a deeply revealing comment about the state of our world at the present time. Right and wrong no longer have any role in the international relationships of our world. President Trump’s State of the Union address made clear what matters: “America will be rich again!” was his triumphant cry which was greeted with huge applause and cheering from the majority benches.
So many biblical texts spring to mind in response to such a declaration (the parable of the rich fool Luke, 12:13-21; serving God and Mammon, Matthew 6:24; the root of all evil, 1 Timothy 6:10, to name but three) that it seems unnecessary to state how unbiblical and anti-Christian such a world is. Except that so many apparently professing Christians appear to be in complete agreement with such sentiment. The world is in a very dark place.
Last time, I wrote that Christians need to speak the light of truth in the darkness, so, the Palestinian family did not exploit a loophole but followed Home Office procedure to the letter and fully within the law (1); President Zelensky is not a dictator and did not start the war. But truth is more than words. It is also about how we live our lives. Our daily acts that demonstrate who we are following and which reveal the light of a different Kingdom ruled by different laws: not bowing to Mammon, the god of wealth; welcoming the outcast and stranger; treating others as we would want to be treated; receiving and giving grace; serving one another and not grasping for ourselves.
It is the season of Lent, the period of fasting in the church calendar before the celebration of Easter. The true fast that God desires is the breaking of injustice, the releasing of the oppressed, the breaking of every bondage, the sharing with the poor and hungry, homing the homeless and clothing the naked (Isaiah 58:6-7). Every small act that contributes to these pushes back against the darkness that is enfolding us.
Diary of a (Maybe) Retired Pastor 
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