Jury duty.

I will soon be going to the courthouse in Vista to find out if they can use me as a juror. Thankfully, it happens to fall during a time when I am not working so it is possible that it will be a great experience and I don't have to sacrifice any earnings I might be making from work.

The potential to be a juror has caused me to ponder the necessary causes for the justice system to deny a person as juror. The reason coming before my thoughts at this moment as I'm brain storming is moral relativism. How can one stand in judgment over another person if they themselves are not grounded in morality and truth? How can one believe in a system of morality unless it is is first given to them to believe? If we don't believe that morality has been handed down to us or comes from an outside agent, then by default we make ourselves gods and judges of men.

Years ago in 2004 as I was preparing to go on my deployment to the Persian Gulf we had what is called a "workup." It is something that naval vessels do in home waters to prepare for a scheduled deployment. Workups happen a year out and six months out from the actual embarkation date to train the crew ahead of time and hopefully avoid future troubles when out in potential enemy waters. One of the Marines I was on the carrier training with for our workup was a moral relativist. His mantra was, "strive for perfection."

Deciding to walk in his shoes and thus get a better look at how his mind worked I asked him some probing questions to see if he had actually thought about what perfection was. His answers pertained to his performance within the Marine Corps and life in general. His perfection was the standard of the Marine Corps and his own values. He wanted to maintain a perfect score of 300 for his physical fitness test and "be a good person." He couldn't really define what a "good" person was.

Having pinned him to standards of perfection I asked what he would do if he did not either achieve or maintain them. He simply said that he would "lower his standards." Isn't that what we all do? We have an ideal quality in our minds that we strive for and when we find that we cannot achieve it we bring the proverbial bar down to a more manageable level. We smooth out our path and pat ourselves on the back for a job well done because we reached a plateau that an infant could scale and not fall off of. All the while we have this weight bearing down on our backs when we realize our previous standards are leaning over our shoulder and crushing us. For the purpose of revealing our sinful motives Al Pacino says in The Devil's Advocate, "Look but don't touch; touch but don't taste; taste but don't swallow."

The rushing voice in the back of our heads that leads us to doubt and lose strength is saying to us "YOU DO NOT MEASURE UP!" What other reason could we have for our feelings of guilt and fear? Why else would we spend time wasting away in self-doubt, pity, loneliness and depression?

We have days where all seems well and we can feel happy for a time but they are like the last few hours of a waning Sunday night when we realize that we are drunk and exhausted and have to wake up early for work the next morning. Worldly happiness is a fading shadow that is a constant reminder of the sorrows that are to come. We can eat, drink and be merry, but tomorrow WE WILL DIE! There has to be something better than this!

Thus, the result of moral relativism is the establishment in our own hearts of a throne that we sit upon in judgment. We judge the world through scandalous and haughty eyes and rule unjustly from a heart that is sinking in shifting sand. We fail to live up to our standards but we are furious and demand justice for those who also fail to live up to our expectations. We hate in others what is most prominent in us. How can we judge when we are worthy of judgment? How can we be faithful stewards of the lives of men unless we can find a firm foundation and rule in the truth of justice? How may we depart from the deceit that has struck us a mortal blow from within? We are nothing but moral anarchists.

We see before us the need to judge the wickedness of others when we ourselves are wicked and deserving of judgment. However, we cannot let a child rapist or serial murderer roam the streets if it is within our power to take them away. The convicted murderer will serve his time, but what of us who rail and hate in our hearts? If the convicted murderer could not escape just punishment in this life then how can we escape judgment for the very same sins that abide within us? True justice demands an account of all iniquity that is committed in the flesh AND in the heart! We cannot escape our sins without help.

From where does our help come? Our help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth! Our help comes from our advocate who stands before the Judge in our place. Our help comes from the cross! It is the Good Helper who has healed us from all our iniquities and stains. He has clothed us in His righteousness and taken the judgment for our sins upon Himself. His name is Jesus! His name is Messiah! He is the Lord's anointed one; the Holy Lamb of God! He alone can teach us to judge with justice, mercy, grace and compassion for He abides perfectly in shiftless standards.