Doing what's right...

In my daily quiet time reading, I've been reading through the books of 1st & 2nd Kings and there are some amazing events that God has recorded for us and I would love to talk about these at some point, but something has caught my attention particularly in 2nd Kings. You see, as the name of the book implies, this is a record of the actions of the kings of Israel (the northern 10 tribes) and Judah (the southern 2 tribes) of the Children of Israel. As the reigns of these kings is recorded, what they did is basically summed up by God in two ways: King so & so did what was right in the sight of the Lord or King so & so did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Then God goes on to describe for us what these men did that was right or what was evil.

As I've thought about this, that's pretty much it for everybody, like most of the kings of Israel and Judah, they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Few of them actually did what was right in the sight of the Lord. It all boils down to making a choice to do what is right because the default setting for sinful humans is to do what's evil. It is not easy for kings to do what is right, its not easy for priests to do what's right, for pastors to do what's right and it certainly it is not easy for anyone to choose to do what is right. I think this is one of Satan's greatest tricks is that he always presents what appears to be the easy way for us to follow. This is exactly what Jesus said when He said in Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

Boy is that ever true. I had an opportunty this week to teach my sons about doing what's right and a choice to make to do what's right. I went out to eat with my wife and my sons and when I got the bill, it was only like $16.00. Well those two boys sure didn't eat oatmeal and I saw immediately the waitress did not put their meals on the tab. I called her attention to it and instead of $16.00, it was now $30.00. One of my sons wanted to know why I didn't just keep the money, it was free food! I used this as an opportunity to explain why its important to do what's right. I told him this waitress made an honest mistake and at the end of the night when they were balancing the accounts and looking at the money they had and the receipts, they would discover she didn't charge for that food and she'd have to pay for it out of her own pocket. He immediately played the "finders-keepers" card and I said "what if that was you son, would you want to pay if you had made the mistake?" He sheepishly said "no". I said "well she shouldn't either and besides, I'm determined to do what's right and honor the Lord." I hope and pray it made a profound impact on that boy as I said to them, "Always do what's right, even if it costs you, and I can promise you, it will always cost you to do what's right."

I choose today to do what's right in the sight of the Lord regardless of what everyone else is doing. Dr. John R. Rice used to say, "Do right if the stars fall, but do what's right." Will you choose today to do what's right in the sight of the Lord? It will cost you, it will be hard, but the Lord will honor those who make this difficult choice to honor Him. It is worth the cost and you never know who is watching you. Your kids, your grandkids, your spouse, your friends, co-workers and even your enemies; but more importantly, the Lord is watching - the phrase said "they did what was right in the sight of the Lord, or they did what is evil in the sight of the Lord..." Remember, God always sees what you doing and we'll give an account to Him somday.
From my little corner to yours...