"The ones who disappoint you need you the most." Jack Hyles
"Do the right thing." I wish I had a dime for every time someone said that to me. I’d be a very rich woman. Doing the right thing isn’t easy. I’ve had my share of sleepless nights. I’ve wasted countless hours of my days and nights constructing lists of pros and cons. Through lengthy consultations, I’ve exhausted my family and friends trying to discover the mystical answer of doing that which is right. Discovering what is ‘right’ is too often hidden deep below the surface of the well of my selfish desire. I’ve lost more than my temper trying to draw from that well. I settle for the reflection. I am unwilling to give into what is truly required because it costs me more than I am willing to give. So, I cheaply get by with doing that is sort of right, almost right or the worst thing…what I think is right.
So, what is the outcome of my accumulated years of searching for the answer to the enigma of ‘what is the right thing?' How does it apply to the big picture whether I am single, married, widowed or divorced? Is there ever a ‘right’ answer?
Yes. There is always a right answer. You must discover for yourself that doing the right thing begins with self-sacrifice. It is situational. What was right once will not be right now so rules or legislation don’t work. Forgiveness is powerful. Wisdom is expensive. Redemption is God’s handiwork. The Spirit continues to hover above the dark waters of the human heart yearning to do the will of God as the arduous work of creation unfolds uniquely within us and we are fashioned into the men and women God longs for us to be.
Here is a sneak peak at the early stages of the message for Sunday.
1. Stay humble before God.
2. Do not act on your human nature.
3. Live with an accountable community of Christian believers.
4. Redemption comes from outside myself.
Read the story of Ruth for yourself. I believe the characters got it right. Their actions were painstakingly and laboriously constructed from the blueprint of our Master Architect. Their choices were part of the master plan and contributed to the redemption you and I receive through Jesus Christ. They affect you and I personally because they did the right thing.
“Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!” Ruth 4:14