Text- Deuteronomy 13:18 “When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God”
Nowadays, when you talk about doing the right things, it seems you are putting people in a moral dilemma. But for Christians, it should not be so… Doing the right things is (and should be) our way of life.
People are fond of picking out the things they like from the Bible, while shunning the ones that doesn’t go down well with them. Yet they go to Church all dressed on Sunday shouting “Alleluia! Amen!” in hypocrisy.
See, as a Christian, you simply can't pick and choose what you'll follow from the Bible and leave out the ones you don’t like. You've got to do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord your God every time, regardless of the situation on ground or the consequences afterwards.
Yesterday, we established that what is popular often makes it difficult to do what is right. Another thing that gets in the way of doing the right thing is what is good. Basically, what seems immediately good may not be the right thing to do. That will be the focus of our discussion today.
There is a subtle difference between what is good and what is right. What is good always makes sense, and comes with a degree of satisfaction (A new achievement, more money, higher grades, job promotion etc.) while what is right conforms to truth, and has to do with moral justifications and etiquettes.
There are a lot of good things that are not right. For example as a young lady, it is a good thing to marry a rich man. But then it is not right for a Christian to marry an unbeliever (2 Corinthians 6:14).
With reference to the example given above, it means that no matter how rich a guy is, and how good he seems to be for you; if he’s an unbeliever, you can’t marry him! If you are faced with a situation like this, choose to do what is right.
One of the signs of spiritual maturity is the ability to differentiate between what is good and what is right; and then the determination to choose what is right above what is good.
“Good” depends on the way you see it; “Right” depends on the way God sees it. Your conscience and mental capacity can lead you to do a lot of good things, but only the Holy Spirit can guide you into doing the right things.
As such, you need to continually ask the Holy Spirit to lead you and to guide you into doing that which is right in the eyes of God.
PRAYER
Holy Spirit, I ask for your help and guidance to please God with my life; I ask in the name of Jesus that you guide me to do the right things always even when they don’t immediately seem like the best option to my human mind.
Image Credit: heartlesshypocrisy.com