Chalke Talk 66: Can you truly be ethical without connecting to a bigger story?

Understanding right from wrong is not about following rules; it’s about understanding how your personal story fits in with a bigger one.

In this week’s Chalke Talk, Steve shares how by deciding to follow Jesus as a teenager, he gained a great sense of connection to the huge meta-narrative of creation.  Making good ethical decisions is not something that just happens – it takes years of determination and practice.  But without a connection to a big story, Steve argues, it is almost impossible to have the determination and resolve to keep trying to be the best possible version of yourself.

“Ethics are more than practice,” Steve explains. “More than simply doing a lot of running. What’s required is a mind-set of never being satisfied with your current ability, a passion to aim just beyond your capability and, MOST importantly, a never-ending resolve to dust yourself off in the face of defeat and try again. 

“And, to achieve that you need a story that is strong enough, big enough and honest enough to keep motivating you; to believe in yourself, to make you go again, to push yourself one more time, to take another shot.”

Steve ends by challenging all of us to reflect on what is the big story that is shaping our own micro-story and by extension, our ethical framework?