A way that seems right

A footpath curves to the left away from the road and around a landscaped garden with a bench for the weary traveller. Between the garden and the road was intended to be a lovely green grassed area but it is bisected by a terrible scar running across it in a direct line to where the path curves back towards the road.The scar was caused by many lazy feet walking across it, making their own path instead of using the one built for them.

A woman ran across the road in between two sets of traffic lights, both with pedestrian signals. Had she walked an extra fifty metres, either to her left or to her right, and used the crossing she would not have been knocked down by a car and injured.

The Bible says, "There is a way that seems right to man but its end is the way to death." (Proverbs 14:12)There was a way that seemed right to the many who took the shortcut across the grass, widening and deepening the scar with each step. There was a way that seemed right to the woman who risked her life for the sake of convenience to run across the road between the lights. There is a way that seems right to the Buddhist, to the Muslim, to the Humanist, and to the man who says he has no religion but worships the gods of his favourite sport. These ways lead to death.

There is a way that leads to life. Jesus is that way, (the only way), the truth, (the only truth) and Jesus is the life, (the only life). (John 14:6). There is no other way.

I am Right

Nobody wants to be wrong. When my children challenge me on something they believe to be fact, they don't always accept that I know more than they do and that I am more than likely right. We have 5 cent bets. That's how we settle the debate. We bet 5 cents and then we Google the facts. They don't usually pay, but that's bedside the point.

We like to think we know things and that we have answers to questions, and solutions to problems. Being right proves our worth. It makes us better than someone else. Smarter. More resourceful. The spirit of competition boils beneath the surface of many of our actions and relationships. Yes, it is stronger in some than others, but at a deep level, I believe everyone wants to be right. We want to know our actions are justified, our decisions are wise, and our answers are correct. We need to know that we are living right and travelling down the right path.We do whatever we can to make things right in our lives. To fix what is broken.

This hunger stems from basic needs which all people possess. The need to be loved, the need to feel useful, and the need to belong. These are universal needs. What many fail to see is that our longing to be right is actually a desire to be right with God. The problem is that we can't do anything to make ourselves right with God. That relationship which He intended all of us to prosper in is damaged because we think we are already right. We can't admit that we are wrong, that we have done wrong, that our need to be right is a manifestation of our pride. We don't have all the answers, we don't know everything (in fact most of us hardly know anything)This conceit rears its ugly head in our relationships where we actually work against ourselves and our real desires because we are broken. We hurt ourselves and others despite our best efforts not to. We are messed up.

Jesus Christ is the only remedy. The only solution. Easter is all about God fixing the problem by sending his Son to die for us. This is right and true. Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for a friend. The only way to be right with God is to accept what Christ did for you, believe it and believe in Him.
When I consider what Jesus has done for me, my need to be right seems childish and pathetic. I only need to be right with God.