Many Christians seem overwhelmingly distracted by a great longing to “moralize” our neighbors. It will simply never be done, at least not while it is our aim. Morality makes a lousy target.

Yet we pursue a revival of morality in America. Stop abortion. Defend the definition of marriage. Provide balanced science curriculum in schools. Eradicate pornography. Stop injustice. End war. Care for the environment. Don’t misunderstand, this morality has a place in the believer’s life. It is a terrific result. It just makes a terrible goal.

Society at large will never live-up to the biblical standard of morality because we have a bigger problem.

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

Romans 1:21-23 (ESV)

Society’s biggest ill is not the loss of a moral center; our biggest problem is idolatry. We exchange the truth about God for a lie. We ignore what we know to be true about Him. We exalt the mortal things (namely ourselves and our desires) above God. We worship the earthly, perishable, mortal things instead of the immortal God.

The problem is idolatry and the result of our problem is immorality.

“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity…”

Romans 1:24a (ESV)

Therefore – as a result – our morality fades because our idolatry grows. Immorality is the result, the symptom. Morality is no more a cure for society’s ills than cough medicine is a cure for pneumonia. It may hide a symptom, but the illness is much deeper, much more serious.

We must not ignore morality. I’m not advocating for a withdrawal from society or apathy toward any of the aforementioned issues. But let’s remember, Jesus never instructed His disciples to fix society. He called them to worship God because He knew the real problem was idolatry, not immorality.

Let’s address the real problem in our hearts and in the world: idolatry. Let’s worship God and lead others to see, know, and worship Him as well. Then, and only then, can we rejoice as the symptoms of immorality subside.