Lord, thou hast examined me and knowest me. Thou knowest all, whether I sit down or rise up; thou hast discerned my thoughts from afar . . . . For there is not a word on my tongue but thou, Lord, knowest them all. ... Where can I escape from thy spirit? Where can I flee from thy presence? Ps. 139:1-7, N.E.B.

The great men of God in the Bible all felt this way. They judged their thoughts and actions, not by what the world thought, but by what God pronounced them to be.

There is no end of gifted and educated people who deny or ridicule the claim that the moral code of the Ten Commandments is still valid for people today. But the Word of God is clear. "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous" (1 John 5:2, 3).

At the core and center of our faith is this kind of righteous love. There is a communion and a fellowship with God and with His children that keeps these divine moral ideals alive. You will meet people along the way who will tell you that if two people love each other they are a law unto themselves and can to a great extent do what they like. Christian young people who live with a clear sense of responsibility to God, to His moral character and law, will stand against such folly.

There is no way you can stand alone and hold onto your moral integrity if you lose a sense of the living God and your accountability to Him. There have been too many wretched consequences along the road for anyone to suppose that you can take liberties with God's commandments. It isn't enough to set up your own moral standard. God is the one who is involved. Nothing so restrains sin and transgression as seeing it all in the light of how God looks at it. Our life is a divine calling. We are responsible to Him alone. We are conscious of a new and conquering force in our lives. Where other men are cowards and yield to temptation, we are confident, assured, and invincible in Christ. God has left us only one possibility: in every situation and before every temptation we will be true to Him and to our fellow men.