Doing the Right Thing

Mindy and I watched "Changeling" last night.  I really didn't want to watch it, but I was tired so I assumed that I would fall asleep.  The first 20-30 minutes was uninspiring and I was starting to give up on the movie and ready myself for a late night nap.

Then the movie started to follow two different stories.  The police captain and the mom.  The captan knows what he is doing is wrong, yet he continues to do it because he doesn't want to do the hard work of figuring out what's wrong.  The mom goes the correct way and continues to search for the truth.  She puts in the hard work that comes from living with integrity and doing the right thing.

The mother is hiding nothing.  She has no regrets.  She is searching only for the truth.  She wants to know where her son is.

The captain continues down his wrong path and works within his corrupt police system in order to do cover his poor work.  He is worried about image, his and the police force.

That alone is interesting and makes for a decent movie.  It gets so much better though.  The path that they both lead is amazing.  His path messes up lives and really hurts people that he doesn't even know.  His crappy work and lack of integrity leaves much more terrible crimes to happen.  She moves with integrity and helps people along her path.  Her path has integrity as she does the right thing even when it would be much easier for her to just give in.  Her path heals people.

Our lives are so much like that.  When we don't live with integrity we end up hurting people that we don't even know.  We hurt those we love much worse.

When I sin my life begins to be consumed by that sin.  For instance, when I lie my life begins to work around that lie.  Because of that lie and then need to calculate who I told the lie to and who I will need to speak with in order to make sure that my lie will work out.  I also need to keep track of that lie so as not to accidentally tell the truth or a different version of that lie to someone else.  Now I am spending a lot of thought and emotional effort on that lie.  I am then using my relationships with people in order to manipulate the person that I originally lied to.  Now I have a fake part of my life that I have to take care of.  It wasn't there and then it was.  My lie has crept into my relationships and has hurt a lot of people.

How big is the lie?  Don't know how big it was when it started, but it seems pretty big now.

Easier if I had never told that lie.

I understand good leadership to mean that you do the right thing over time and there is nothing that can not be accomplished.  That principal works with money too.  Do the right things consistently and you will succeed.  Works the same in marriage.  Works everywhere.

Do the right things consistently.  When I move that way I am helping people.  I am no longer using or manipulating people in order to get whatever it is I want.  I am truly living.  I am not controlled by my sin.  I am doing the right thing because I want to be a person that does the right thing.  I am doing the right thing so that I can have peace.

The movie was interesting.  It showed (much better than I just did) what affect a life has on others.  Because of the captain's cheap and easy actions he and the police force missed a much larger crime going on.  I would recommend the movie.

So what do I mean by "doing the right thing?"  That can be a hard question for many people.  I understand that knowing what the right thing to do is what we call wisdom.  I believe wisdom comes only from God.  I believe that God gave us all the wisdom that we need in the Bible.  The more that I understand the Bible and how it all builds on each different book and chapter, the easier it is for me to understand what "doing the right thing" means.

How do you know what that means?  What is your truth source?  Is it your intuition?  Do you really believe that you are the wisest person to ever live?  I am crazy arrogant and I don't even believe that!

How do you understand what is right?  I see that only living in truth will lead to peace.  Peace for me and peace for those around me.

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