Better to "Do Right" than to "Be Right"

"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8

It was at our semi-annual Elder's Retreat tonight as my fellow elder [and a man whom I genuinely admire greatly] Kent Hamilton prayed that "God would help us do what is right" that the Holy Spirit showed me, like a lightening flash, that I am far more concerned with "being right" than I am in "doing right" as Kent prayed. Then He flashed this verse of Scripture across my mind.

Why does it matter? Why wouldn't it matter? Doing right is commanded by the Lord in the phrases "to act justly and to love mercy" whereas having to "be right" [i.e. prideful] is commanded against by God as He instead insists that we "walk humbly with our God." The distinction may or may not be subtle but the effects of one v. the other brings life v. death to our souls.

I find the sin of pride to be all too insidious. It is like a vapor that expands to fill whatever space it is allowed in my heart. Rooting it out is virtually a full time job. And what is there in my life to be "proud of" anyway? God has been the source of all the blessings I have and has far too many times saved me from myself. Yet somehow I too often act like I have all the answers.

This has been a horrific week in the lives of some of my dearest brothers and sisters in Christ as I have watched powerlessly as two marriages in our church body went down in flames [culminating ironically on the same day ... Wednesday]. I had been involved in both marriages off and on over the past three years trying to help them come to reconciliation and in one of those cases almost on a daily basis over the past month. It has been a painful thing to walk through [especially as one of the men involved had also been on my "Most Admired List" for many years and yet I've been reminded by the Holy Spirit that it could have all to easily have been me. Only God's grace has sustained Janna's and my marriage over the past 28.7 years. Why has my marriage been saved and these others lost? I wish I knew. But I am grateful and I vow to do the things God has called me to ... such as to act justly [do what is right] and love mercy and walk humbly with Him. And to sorely try to not care so much about "being right."