I recently read an interview with Melissa Sue Anderson. During her years playing Mary on Little House on the Prairie, she had a morals clause in her contract with NBC. They wanted to protect the image of the wholesome character so both her behavior offscreen and other onscreen roles could not jeopardize that.
Anderson had been offered the lead role in The Blue Lagoon (a role that ultimately went to Brooke Shields) yet she declined the offer. She stated in later years that not only did she have a morality clause with the network, she was not comfortable with the nudity required for the role.
She had a set of rules to follow, both externally from her contract and internally from her own conscience.
As Christians, we have an implied morality clause as well. Not only do we have a written set of guidelines in the Holy Bible, we have internal convictions of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus says that others will know us (as believers) by our fruit. Matthew 7:20
He even curses the trees that bear no fruit. And He can see a tree that looks good on the outside but it is shriveled up from the roots.
We are so good at deceiving ourselves sometimes.
“I just have this one little vice,” we say.
But one area of sin opens the door for Satan to get a foothold. Before long our tree has withered up and died and we still think we’re producing fruit.
At the end of the day, we cannot separate our public witness from our private walk. God is not fooled by a lush canopy of green leaves if the roots are decaying from hidden compromise. If we truly belong to Him, our “morals clause” isn’t a burden to carry, but a joy to live out through the power of the Holy Spirit.
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