The "Right" Right

Friends of Faith:

This weekend we saw the movie “God’s Not Dead.” Would you be willing as a college freshman (or an even more mature adult) to stand up to someone with authority and defend your choice to believe in God and to choose the right “right?” (If you haven’t seen the movie, I would highly recommend it.)

When God looks into my hearts and asks: “Have you been for me, or against me—what will I honestly be able to answer?” This is the “million dollar” for “all eternity question.”

“But the LORD said to Samuel: “Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.” 1 Sm 16: 7

What is permissible by God and what has been made by man to SEEM permissible by God?

God looks into our hearts. God sees differently than you or I. He sees differently than what the world sees.

Man may make “laws,” and deem something necessary (a choice, an equality), but God sees right laws, and true necessities (disciplines and responsibilities.) He sees the one, true, holy right.

The separation between what God teaches, what Christ gives us as an example and what the world wants us to believe as the truth can be very small. It is one of the reasons I keep seeking education about my faith, because sometimes the differences between God’s right and mine (human’s) can easily trick me into wrong decisions or judgments.

We all know the commandment: “Keep holy the Sabbath.” But yet Jesus preached, healed and performed miracles on the Sabbath. It was one of the reasons the “legal system” of that time abandoned and crucified him. Yet, as Jesus himself depicted, how can something be deemed a “sin” when it is performing miracles in God’s name?

“This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And there was a division among them.” Jn 9: 16

Christ chose to cure the blind man on the Sabbath. He chose mercy over the law. He chose to make God’s mercy visible to others even though it was the Sabbath. Otherwise he would have been the hypocrite who said, “go, take care of yourself, I can’t help you because I am “obeying” the law and not  working today.” So, will my own choices make God’s mercy visible and present to others? Will God see my choices as a choice for him?

Every time I make a decision to DO something is it “my desire” or a “work of God’s?” Does it draw me closer to God, or does it keep me FROM God? Is it of this world, or of God’s world? Am I justifying what I do because it is what I want to be believe (my right), or am I justifying what I do, because I truly believe that God would say it is the “right” right?

Some examples from my life: shopping—Am I spending money I don’t have, buying things I don’t need or am I stopping for a gallon of milk because the refrigerator is empty and I have hungry kids to feed?

Working: Is my work to help others, or is my work to make more money for myself out of greed (different than sustaining the needs of my family)?

Becoming more Christ centered: Am I fulfilled and satisfied by attending church, do I make it my priority, or do I let others convince me that something else is more important?

How am I “justifying” my decisions—based on God, or based on what “everyone else” is doing?

Christ Jesus, You were sent here to be my example. Teach me right from wrong. Help me to discern what is Your way, and what is deceptively just “my way.” Thank you for giving me the opportunity and the freedom to be in your presence each week. Help my life to make You and Your mercy visible to others. Amen.

God IS NOT DEAD!! Stand up for your beliefs. Choose the “right” right for the right reason this week.

Blessings,

Charlotte