Millions of people around the world believe mankind is getting better with each passing day. This worldview is rooted in Darwinian theory, namely that humans are constantly evolving and progressing to a higher level of potential, including morality.

But as I observe our world today, I can’t help but think the opposite is true. Morality seems to be on the decline, not the incline.

Then I read the words of Ecclesiastes that remind us that, “there is nothing new under the sun.” In other words, when it comes to moral decline, past civilizations have been there, done that. I’m obviously not the first person in history to think society is going to the dogs in matters of virtue.

So why is it that both contemporary and ancient cultures tend to head morally south? What causes societies to embrace standards that are “sub-standard?”

My own theory is that morality spirals downward in proportion to a society’s view of God. For those who don’t believe in God, it’s anything goes. Mere men and women, not God, decide what’s right or wrong, what’s good or bad, what’s acceptable or unacceptable. For those who either don’t believe in God or believe he’s irrelevant, humanism is the religion of choice – namely that man is the measure of all means. People call the shots.

But even those who believe in God might find themselves living like practical atheists because their view of God is incomplete. They also do what they want to do, not what God wants them to do.

In this day and age, the nominal believer in God wants a “nice God” they can call on when they are in trouble (like a sweet, benign grandmother who always sends you money when your parents refuse), but they don’t want a God to tell them what to think or do. They want a tolerant God that conveniently fits in with the tolerant culture.

Understandably, people today want God to be kind, loving, gracious, forgiving and benevolent, and they are in luck because he truly is. In Exodus 34:6-7, God revealed part of his nature to Moses, describing himself as “The LORD! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin.”

Now that sure sounds like a nice God, right? But that’s only a partial picture of who God is.

Richard Bewes, the former rector of All Souls Church in London, said that some of us prefer a “designer” God that we can create in our own minds. We cut and paste the qualities we like and attribute them to our customized view of God. Those sides of God that we don’t like are simply ignored or jettisoned altogether.

But God doesn’t give us the luxury of cobbling together what he is like. There is more to him than just those qualities that give us a warm fuzzy. Like it or not, there are sides of God that make us squirm, like his holiness, justice, vengeance and wrath. This is not to say that God has a “dark side” and a “bright side” like “The Force” in Star Wars. The Apostle John tells us that “God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.” There is no “bad side” to God.

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the Oxford and Cambridge professor C.S. Lewis uses talking animals in a magical world called Narnia to describe spiritual realities. In one scene, Mr. Beaver announces that the Christ-figure named Aslan is “on the move” in Narnia. He tells Susan and her siblings the uncomfortable news that “Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion.’ ‘Ooh,’ said Susan. ‘I’d thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.’… ‘Safe?’ said Mr. Beaver … ‘Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.’”

In his typically brilliant and succinct way, Lewis has given us a key insight into the nature and character of God. He is good, but he is also dangerous. Hebrews 12:29 is even more blunt: “our God is a consuming fire.” He is not to be trifled with. He is to be taken seriously. And he doesn’t like people tampering with his immutable qualities.

Which brings us back to the main point on morality. I believe people today have lost their fear of God. They treat him like a harmless puppy, rather that the Almighty Creator of the Universe who holds their eternal destinies in his hands. It’s really important to embrace the notion that this loving God is also wrathful. And wrath is not synonymous with mean or hateful. Just the opposite. God’s wrath is as much a part of his moral perfection as his love.

Consider the words of J.I. Packer: “God’s wrath in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is. It is, instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil. God is only angry where anger is called for. Even among humans, there is such a thing as righteous indignation, though it is, perhaps, rarely found. But all God’s indignation is righteous.”

And what is God angry at? Evil. Sin. Self-centeredness. Unbelief. Calling that which is evil good and that which is good evil. The list goes on and on. A holy God cannot tolerant sin, no matter how small a sin it is. A perfect God cannot tolerate any imperfection. God says as much in the last part of Exodus 34:7 — “I do not excuse the guilty.”

Now comes the shocking part: we’re all guilty. We’ve all fallen short of God’s perfect standard. No amount of good deeds and charitable activities will impress him. It won’t give us a “get out of jail free” card. But we can have a “get out of hell free” card by simply putting our faith in God’s son, Jesus Christ, as savior and lord. His mercy, grace, forgiveness and love not only gives us eternal life, but helps us live a life that pleases him. In other words, he can give us the power to live a “moral life” that honors God.

We should have a healthy fear of God and live humbly before him. Fear of God doesn’t just mean being afraid of him, but having a reverence for God and giving him the honor, respect, worship, love and obedience he deserves and commands.

Fear of God doesn’t just honor him, but it also benefits us. Proverbs 9:10 gives us the secret recipe for a successful life: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” When you have God’s wisdom, you can tackle just about anything.

So if you truly want to have an abundant life, a morally strong life, an admirable and respectable life, the starting place is by fearing God.