Just Do the Right Thing
Have you ever been in a season where everyday errands become stumbling blocks for your mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing?
Things such as keeping dentist appointments or grocery shopping for your family, only to find that the cost of your grocery trip is abnormally over your budget, or worse yet, you can’t seem to find what you’re looking for? If you’re like me, these small, mundane things can throw an entire day off ever so slightly.
However, when you throw relationships with people into the mix, things tend to get a little more complicated.
We all struggle with relationships to some level. We live on this earth with imperfect people who have wronged us through word and deed. Maybe you have been on the receiving end of a bad word spoken or an intentional careless act. And it hurts.
So what is your natural response when being confronted with these things?
Quite often, I catch myself giving my attention to remembering how the other person wronged me. It is easy to keep chewing on the event or the word that was spoken. And recently, God has been challenging me to do the right thing.
Do the Right Thing: Remember, you are not responsible for what other people do, good or bad.
Is this freeing for anyone else?
We are not responsible for the actions of others. Their reactions and responses are theirs alone, be it a spoken word, an action, or a choice.
And just as others are liable for their own choices, we are held responsible for how we react and behave.
Galatians 6:5, NKJV says, “But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load.”
As we partner with the Lord in allowing Him to empower and grow us, we will be encouraged to respond and speak from His Spirit while our eyes are focused on Him.
And as we are held responsible for our deeds, we can rejoice in the Lord for the strength and confidence He has provided.
Do the Right Thing: Allow God to be the judge.
Sometimes, it is just hard to do the right thing, especially when it comes to those who have intentionally hurt us.
In my mind, I know that I am supposed to extend grace and mercy, but sometimes, my heart and emotions get stuck.
I know that I am supposed to pray for others when they hurt me and forgive those who have wronged me, but if I am honest, sometimes I don’t want to, and it just feels easier to pay people back.
Anyone else?
“Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.”
- Romans 12:19, NKJV
When we struggle in doing the right thing, we often make ourselves the judge in the sentencing of others. Usually, our motive is to let them know how they have hurt us.
But take heart, Daughter! God invites us not to be consumed with that. The Lord declares that vengeance is His, and He has the “Big Payback”!
Let me encourage you not to take matters into your own hands with the little ways we try to repay others: such as the silent treatment, holding others in contempt, and small, spiteful actions that hint that we are upset.
We can find peace in knowing that He is God, and we are not. And while we may not understand or see what He will do, we can trust in His word.
He is a good Father who loves His children, and things will be made right in His perfect way and timing.
Do the Right Thing: Do good to those who hurt you.
We live in a world where our culture is taught to repay the harm done to us. So this challenge usually is the most difficult.
Jesus teaches us in Matthew 5:44-45a, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven;”
While these words were taught to his disciples, Jesus is also teaching us to do the same, right here, in this generation.
Instead of paying others back with revenge, we are to pay them back with the kindness of heaven. And as we love those who hate us, bless and serve those who are spiteful, and pray for those who have deeply hurt us, we are leaving room for the kingdom of heaven to have a more significant impact.
So what will you choose?
Let’s arise and be women who do the right thing by repaying with the love and kindness of the Father. And watch what He will do!