Wednesday the 11th

James 4: ¹⁷Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

 

Doing the right thing. Why so often does it seem to be the harder thing to do? When a cop turns in another cop, he is looked down on by his peers, when you were back in school we called them narcs. I am convinced that the world does not agree with do the right thing, it agrees with do the easy thing. When someone steps up and does the right thing, it creates a lot of work, and a lot of accountability…….we as humans do not like that much. It comes down to exactly what the Lord warned us about. “those who love their life will lose it”, or “blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.” Or when He warned that we should not love this world or anything in it.  These are the times he was talking about. It is easy to get along, it is harder to get along, and do the right thing. You will be called out, you will be persecuted, you will lose friends, but you will be blessed. When we go against our human nature, and do the thing that we know we should, not the thing we want to do, we walk more closely to the Lord. Think of Christ, did He do the thing He wanted to do or did He do the thing that He knew He should do? He prayed for His Father to take His cup, He prayed that if there was any other way, then let that way be the way to complete the task…….but there was not….so Christ did the hard thing, He did the right thing, He did the thing He should no, not the thing He wanted to do, and I think Him everyday for it. Was it tough, was it painful? Of course it was, it is written that He sweated blood, did you know that is an actual medical possibility? It is caused by the body being put under enormous stress. Your body breaks the capillary beds in your skin, and you will sweat blood. That would be the pinnacle of stress, that would be the truest form of stepping up to do the right thing. When I think of my savior sweating blood, yet still following through, I have no choice to do the right thing, in any circumstance. We so often talk about the amazing sacrifice that Christ made, as the Son of God, but we often overlook just how human He was while He was here. He was hungry, He was tired, He was tempted, He cried, He died and he was stressed to the limits, (talk about blood sweat and tears) yet He showed us when it was OK to cave to the world, He showed us when it was alright to give in, and take the easy way, He showed us when it was acceptable to God to relent……..Never! I pray that each of us when the time comes can step up and do the right thing, not just when it is easy, but even when you think you might have to sweat blood to do it.

 

God Bless,

Brian