“When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.”
“When the wicked increase, transgression increases, but the righteous will look upon their downfall.” – Proverbs 29:2, 16
In eighth grade, I got my first detention. I was sitting in health class, waiting for the teacher to arrive. Two minutes went by, then five. Students began speculating no one was coming. Someone suggested going outside. Within a few minutes, about two thirds of our class, including me, were playing wallball and basking in our escape. A few minutes after, the sub showed up.
Cultural mores are crowd-sourced. If you’ve lived over a generation, you’ve seen it. Words, behaviors, and opinions once confined to windowless bars have now become mainstream, while practicing traditional values places you in the circle of eccentric, at best.
This is why there will always be debate about the value of cultural Christianity and government-imposed morals. There’s a phrase, “you can’t legislate morality.” That’s true. The law is powerless to save or change hearts (Romans 8:3). On the other hand, legislating morality is the only thing a government does. When a bureaucrat decides to cut a line item from the EPA’s budget, that’s a piece of moral legislation.
As a society, we operate under moral plausibility structures. These incline people towards or against certain behaviors. When my neighbor flaunts the HOA parking restrictions, it makes me more willing to do the same. The Bible teaches that genuine revival only comes from the inside out and is a work of God’s Spirit (Matthew 12:34). The government has a calling, however, to restrain evil (Romans 13:3-4). Laws matter. Singapore will fine you a cool $10,000 for selling chewing gum. It’s also absurdly clean.
The character of leaders matters even more. Whether in a family, business, or state, leaders set the culture. Words, tone, and habits trickle down. This is good news for Christians. Your leader is Jesus. The more you watch him, listen to his Word, and submit to his rule, the more you’ll absorb his character.
Jesus’ character will ultimately win out. As a culture slides deeper into decadence, maintaining virtue begins to feel not merely quaint, but foolish. Why bother—no one cares anyway? Perhaps not. “But the righteous (not meaning perfect, but those who prize the righteousness of Jesus) will look upon their downfall.” No matter how commonplace evil becomes, or how much society smiles upon certain sins, you can’t circumvent the moral physics of God.
Hot air goes up; cold air goes down. Righteousness stands where wickedness falls; if not in this world, certainly in the next. You can hold to the trustworthy paths of the Bible regardless of which views fall out of favor. You can work towards the increase of righteousness by remaining faithful yourself. If you abide by our silly HOA parking restrictions[1], you sew another stitch in the plausibility structure of righteousness. You make it a little easier to follow suit. Which trend will you contribute to today?
[1] My neighbors are actually very pleasant and our HOA codes reasonable 🙂
Here’s a bonus on relativistic morals: Huckleberry Finn & Lies of Loyalty
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