Wednesday, December 28, 2016
I know that most of us don’t like to admit it, but there are times when we feel someone has wronged us, or things haven’t gone our way, or our special petitions are not answered, when we feel that gives us a right to sin or do our own thing. Consulting with couples in the past, this issue has come up many times. It is not uncommon to hear one of them say something like: “Well, I wouldn’t have done that if so and so hadn’t first done this or the other.” That’s like telling the police officer who pulls you over for speeding, “I was just following the cars that were in front of me.” I’m sure the officer will not reply: “Oh, in that case, forget it. I’ll see if I can catch up with the others and give them the ticket.” The bottom line is that it is never right to do wrong, period!
In case we have forgotten, Adam started the ball rolling to this devilish little game in the Garden of Eden. When God confronted him about disobeying Him, he tried to justify his actions by implying “if you had not given me the woman, this would not have happened.” That, of course, would have made God the responsible party. The bible is filled with stories about those who tried to justify their evil actions. One example was Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi. These two killed many innocent men in retribution for one of them violating their sister, Dinah. They tried to justify their wicked sin when Jacob confronted them about it by replying:“Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?” (Genesis 34:31)
In Psalm 143, one of David’s prayers to God was: “Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.” (verse 2) David knew that there will never be a time when, after we have done wrong, God will say: “Come to think of it, you have a point.” I repeat: It is never right to do wrong. May we never forget this eternal truth. Because we are human, the day will come when we will contemplate doing something amiss, especially when we have been wronged. May God remind us of this truth and give us the grace to resist. If you, on the other hand, have already fallen into this trap, I urge you to ask the Lord’s pardon. He will quickly forgive, cleanse, and restore you.
God’s promise for today: (1 John 1:9) “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
