There was never a time when man had the ability to correctly chose his own standard of morality. God gave Adam and Eve one commandment, and they disobeyed it. In the next generation, Cain killed his own brother. Fleshly man cannot set standards to properly govern himself. Those three mentioned and the balance of fleshly man have never followed the path of the Spirit. Only in Christ can a person love his neighbor as himself.

     Man's natural state, in the flesh, eliminates him from being the standard by which others must live. Christians having a fleshly body while on this earth are also eliminated because the cannot measure up either. Only Jesus Christ in His fleshly body was ever able to keep the full law of the Spirit. Only He is worthy of being the world's role model.

     One cannot trust thoughts or feelings to give the right answers. Both are subject to the heart. Man's fleshly heart has a problem. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9) There is only One who can know man's heart and judge what is best for man. "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12) 

     Do you find it strange that not one of us even knows the true motives behind our thoughts and feelings? No need to feel bad; we all still have a sin nature, even though we might be saved. That is why God said "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." (Proverbs 3:5) He knows we cannot chose correctly between right and wrong. "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered." (Proverbs 28: 26)

     We have learned that all men and women have desperately wicked hearts, no matter how nice a person might seem. Since our hearts are deceitful and untrustworthy, we need some one else's heart we can rely on. We need a role model as a standard for us to follow. The only person who can be this role model is one who has a pure heart. That person is Jesus Christ. He walked sinless through this world. He is the Word of God. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men." (John 1:1-4)

     The written Word of God is the Holy Bible. It is our standard for living, and we can trust it. It is God breathed for our benefit. It is up to us to use it to determine right from wrong. We cannot of ourselves know right from wrong. What or who will you choose to be your yardstick, a measure of right and wrong?