Sand

The headlines recently have exposed sexually exploitive and abusive behaviors that have existed for decades in the film industry, other businesses, and politics. Many knew of this behind-the-scenes behavior, of course, but never spoke out against it. Now, we are hearing about the vile things that happened to people in past decades, up to today. Now, the public is in an uproar over what has been decided to be unacceptable behavior. Hollywood has begun a "movement" to demand an end to it. What was seemingly "acceptable", and "business as usual" then, was never right, and will no longer be tolerated, they say.
The problem is that man-made rules about what is right or wrong are rules that stand on nothing but shifting sand. Today, something is acceptable, tomorrow, it is not. Yesterday, something was deemed unacceptable, but today, it is acceptable in order to stay relevant with current trends of society. Society enforces these shifting rules, but men's hearts remain the same. We can see the disparity between what society arbitrarily determines, and the true condition of the heart of man, by the sincere incomprehension on the faces of some who have been accused of unacceptable behavior. We hear comments like, "That was just locker room talk", and "I thought she liked me", and "Nothing happened that wasn't consensual". Then we hear the vague, confused apology: "If I ever did something that offended or hurt anyone, I am deeply sorry."
All of this damage and confusion is the result of relying upon man to tells us what is moral, immoral, acceptable, and unacceptable, because all of those determinations shift with the winds of time and opinion. In doing this, we build our houses on sand, and then we are shocked when that sand sinks and swallows up the house, or causes its collapse. What the sands of the desert look like one day, will look completely different the next day, as the ever-blowing winds continually rearrange the sands and dunes. To build anything on those sands is foolishness.
God, however, does not build houses upon the sand. He builds upon rock-the rock of His Word. His house does not shift and fall with the changing sands beneath, but it stands forever. Jesus also told the parable about building a house upon the rock, as opposed to unstable sand:
"Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."   Mt. 7:24-27
God says about Himself and His word that what was true yesterday, is still true today, and will continue to be true tomorrow. It doesn't change with the fashions and fads of man's thoughts:
"For I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed , O sons of Jacob."
                                                                                                            Mal. 3:6
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."  Heb. 13:8
God specifically warns us not to be carried about on the shifting winds, equating that kind of instability with being infants:
"...we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things unto Him who is the head- Christ." Eph. 4:14-15
God's word does not equivocate. His word does not hesitate to take a stand, and it does not seek to speak on both sides of an issue. It is not reliant upon the shifting opinions of society.
God's word on the issues in today's headlines can be found very easily:
"You shall not commit adultery."   Ex. 20:14
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.  Ex. 20:17
"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles, who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness."   1 Thess. 4:3-7
The Lord did not declare these principles for arbitrary or antiquated reasons, as some might insist, but because this type of immoral, abusive behavior harms one's self and others, as noted in the above scriptures.
It has been mentioned that the exploitative behaviors in today's headlines stem from the issue of abuse of power, where those who are in positions of power, use that power to intimidate those with lesser power into doing their will.
Jesus was all over that issue:
"But Jesus called them (His quarreling disciples) to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."  Mt. 20:25-28
The word of God is not outdated. It is all up into today's headlines. Issues of morality go on and off like a light bulb over the heads of society, depending upon the mood of the day, but God shined an eternal light on the truth of moral principle, righteousness, equity, justice, defending those who have no one to defend them, revealing the corrupt power of the wealthy over the poor, and the strong over the weak, and revealing those evil, abusive things that man has done to each other under the cover of secrecy. When men's justice has failed, God's justice has prevailed. Where men's truths have been revealed to be lies, God's truth has stood from time and eternity.
The state of our confusion on these and other fundamental issues regarding how we should treat each other attests to our having turned away from the word of God a long time ago. We are seeing the consequences of that now. We have been building on shifting sands, and the house is falling. It will do no good to rebuild that house, if the plan is to rebuild on these same sands again.

Our Father's word is the Rock upon which we can build.

"My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less"

"In Christ Alone"