"Resolutions for Ethics for the New Year"
As the calendar turned to 2017 many people made resolutions for the New Year. Included in these resolutions likely were goals about personal appearance, goals for work and life, and goals for personal relationships. But how many people included in those resolutions ethical goals—what they would like to do with their moral behavior in 2017? What would such a list of resolutions for relating our faith to life look like?
When I first think about ethical resolutions I think about what Scripture has to say to us. When I was teaching ethics in lay school I would have my students choose the most important Biblical passages for constructing their ethics. Over the course of the ten plus years I taught the class, certain key Scriptures were mentioned almost every time. These same passages come to mind for me now: Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 (the Ten Commandments), Micah 6:8 (“What does the Lord require of us? To do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”), Matthew 5-7 (The Sermon on the Mount), Matthew 22:34-40 ("Love God and love your neighbor as yourself"), Colossians 3:12-17 (“clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”), 1 Corinthians 13 (faith, hope, and love), and Galatians 5 (“Walk by the Spirit, and not by the flesh. Show the fruits of the Spirit.”) Reflecting on these passages in my life I would put “loving God and loving my neighbor first.” Martin Luther rightly put this at the start of every day when he recommended beginning each day proclaiming faith in God and ending each day reflecting on how he had done. No matter how high-minded our ethical goals might be, putting God first and others second followed by us needs to be number one.
For me this first resolution to do a better job at being third in my life would lead to the second: “to practice humility in life.” Surely this runs so counter to our culture today, particularly in how we see the opposite practiced by leaders in our country and world. Still, if there is any virtue that is close to the heart and mind of Jesus in how He practiced His faith, it is humility. With it comes a third resolve: “to seek to be more peaceful in my relationships with others and to promote peace with all that I encounter.” Here Jesus’ sayings in the Sermon on the Mount would come into play: “do not return evil for evil, but follow and do good to those who hurt you.” Again, very countercultural in 2017!
A fourth resolution would reflect Paul’s lists of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” I need practice on each of these, but I particularly need to seek to be more patient. In particular patience for me can be correlated with being a better listener, trying to first understand what another person is saying and then to respond. Couldn’t we all grow in being active listeners in the New Year?”
Finally, the prophet Micah’s words are a challenge to us all: “to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Most of us have great difficulty with all of these very timely challenges. Doing justice to others has far-ranging effects, from the food we eat and the car we drive to how we care for the least of our brothers and sisters. Loving mercy is so lacking when we have an insatiable taste for revenge to those who have hurt us. Staying connected in an appropriate posture of looking up to God (who isn’t us) is an enduring challenge.
Hopefully, my take at New Year’s resolutions for ethics will inspire your own list. Above all, in 2017 may we seek to “walk with Jesus daily.” (WWJD)
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