Doing the Right Thing

It is as the old South Georgia farmer who was faced with a changing social culture back in the '60's said, "Preacher, I know what the right thing to do is, I just ain't ready to do it yet."  Most likely we have all been there when it comes to knowing what is right and then not doing it.  Some people of great faith have struggled along these lines.  The Apostle Paul wrote, "I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate...I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do."  (Romans 7:15, 19)

 

The need for reconciliation can stare us in the face and we will still choose to live with a broken relationship.  We know what we ought to do, but we just refuse to do it.  I have done more than my share of dragging the feet when it comes to getting some broken relationships in order.  Early in my ministry a controversy arose in the church I was serving and before all the dust had settled brokenness had settled in and taken root.  When I was packing to leave one of my antagonist came and apologized only to have it turned aside by his preacher.  Several years later when news came that misfortune had fallen upon him and my first response was "He got what he deserved, " I realized how deeply I had allowed my anger to root.  There was some heart work that I knew needed to be done.

 

So much time and energy gets wasted when we live midst known broken relationships.  So much of life and the present moment is wasted as we allow something from the past to take such a hold on us that we cannot see where it has taken us.  When we live in a broken relationship with another, we have not only separated ourselves from someone of value in our lives, but we have also driven a wedge in our relationship with God.  While some may say that nothing is difficult for God, it must surely be difficult for Him to hear our professions of love for Him when we cannot love someone He has put in the circumstances of our life.