What is right in your eyes?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

All a man’s ways seem right to him,
but the LORD weighs the heart.
To do what is right and just
is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
(Proverbs 21:2-3 (NIV))

People justify to themselves what they are doing. When they do what is wrong in God’s eyes, they often seek out others to justify their actions. It is for this reason that homosexuals tend to seek out other homosexuals, thieves seek out other thieves, and new age spiritualists seek out other new agers.

What is the drive within people that makes them want someone to say that what they are doing is okay? Could it be the fact that God has placed in us a need to be loved and accepted by Him, and that when we stray from His truths, we try to fill this void with mis-aligned love and acceptance from other sources?

Pride also plays a part in this. We do not easily admit wrong doing. We think that we know what is best for us, and then we try to prove it through other actions. The creation is not wiser than the Creator. We do not fully understand ourselves, let alone God. When we say that we are right, we lie to ourselves because we do not have a full picture of all things involved.

God gave us rules, laws, and principles to live by. When we live by these principles and do what is acceptable to God, then all things go as they should. Sacrifices are made as means of atonement to “fix” something that we have done wrong. They are a way to say that we have strayed and we recognize this and are taking actions to repent. Sacrifices are not intended as constant mid-course corrections in the path of life. It is far better to live as God would have us to live and have fewer “sacrifices” that we have to make in order to atone for our mistakes.

Copyright 1998 – 2014 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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