When we think about morals it is most common to think about what we should not do. Most of us think of the Ten Commandments, for example, as a list of proscriptions. However, many of the Levitical Laws are prescriptions. “Honor your father and mother” is written as a prescribed law. The command is not “do not dishonor your father and mother,” which would make it a proscribed action.
It is easy to focus on proscriptions. It takes a lot less energy to not do something than it does to do something. It is also a lot easier to point fingers at someone doing something that we don’t do. I don’t say that to attack anybody, it is just human nature to be lazy and to focus on the shortcomings of others. There is any number of prescribed actions that we ignore. In any given day there are a plethora of things that I do not do that I should, the first usually being when my alarm goes off and the last usually being when I go to bed.
It is Benjamin Franklin who is quoted as saying, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” This is not something that comes naturally to many of us. In truth, it is my preference to go to bed early and wake up early, but I have a job that I get home from at around one-thirty AM, when I don’t need to stay late. I use these hours and the labor-focused nature of my work and the eighteen hours that I'm in class a week as excuses to say, “I need eight hours of sleep in order to function.” In all reality, a person can go thirty-two hours without sleep before they are unable to function properly, though I wouldn’t suggest driving. Also, a person only needs between two and a half hours to four hours to have a full regenerative REM cycle, though two to three cycles are optimal. The days I get three hours of sleep and get up to go to class, I am doing what I should. Days when I sleep in to “catch up on sleep,” I am really just being lazy.
Now I am not saying that we should not get the sleep suggested. I am saying, though, that we need to be doing what we can. When you have things you know you should get done during a day, and you have the opportunity, but spend that time sleeping, watching TV, or finding some other distraction, you are sinning just as much as when you do something you know you shouldn’t be.
If we take some time to look at our days, we can easily identify the areas where we are not doing what we should. Figure out what these are. Then, find a psychological tool that can help you focus on that area and ask an accountability partner to hold you to doing what you should. Most of us need to start with reading our Bibles. Find the time and do it. Don’t let yourself turn on the TV, get on the computer, make food, turn on your phone, or do any other work until you’ve done it. Use the psychological tool of location by putting yourself in an area where those things will not be a distraction.
What other sins of omission are we committing? Perhaps the greatest of all is pointed out in the common church quote that says, “It’s called the Great Commission, not the Great Omission.” We were left with one task when Christ ascended. “Make disciples of all nations.” Yet how often do we even step up to speak the Good News?
We cannot ignore the sins that we commit. Every lustful though must be checked, every dishonest and every unclean word must be checked, and every action contrary to the character of God, which above all else is love, must be checked. But, we must also check our inaction. Is it not just as great a sin to not do what you ought as to do what you ought not? Our souls can be corrupted almost more by not participating in a spirit of truth as by participating in a spirit of lies.
So we start by getting up. Wake up sleeper. Then, as we walk in the truth, Christ will shine in us. It starts with a few steps, maybe exercising or reading you Bible, and then you take more and more steps until you are on the center of the path, and not merely walking on the edge of darkness. This is my reality.
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