On the morning of August 2, a fired Columbus police officer, Hermando “Cliff” Harton, Jr., 39, shot his wife in their Prairie Township home. He then led the police on a chase on I-71 into Ashland County where he was shot and wounded by State Patrol troopers. His wife had informed him that she wanted a divorce, and he had just been fired from the Columbus Police force. I was shocked as I listened to several media accounts blaming his pending divorce and the stress of losing his job as being responsible for Harton murdering his wife. He is now suing the officers who shot him, even though he had killed his wife and had a gun in each hand — pointing one of them at the officers. The suit accuses the officers of “cruel and unusual punishment.” Too bad that killing his wife did not seem cruel and unusual to him.
Another officer, an FBI agent, was fired for embezzling $2000 and using it for gambling. Instead of admitting his guilt and accepting his punishment, he sued the FBI saying that his gambling habit was a handicap protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The amazing thing is that he won his case and the FBI was forced to reinstate him.
There is a growing trend in America to see everyone as victims who are not responsible for their actions. As a result, we tend not to see where we were wrong, but instead look around for someone else to blame for our behavior. Charles Colson writes that we have changed from acknowledging that we are a sinner to whining that we are a victim.
The first point I would like to make is, that if you are going to learn to do the right thing: You must take responsibility for your own actions. Jesus told an interesting story about ten young women who were bridesmaids. In the culture of Jesus’ day, the groom went to the bride’s home for the wedding ceremony and then led a procession back to his home for a grand banquet that evening. The bridesmaids were responsible for lighting the way for the wedding party. They were to come prepared with their lamps and oil for fuel. But Jesus introduces a ludicrous element to the story. Instead of being prepared, half of the bridesmaids came without any oil for their lamps. Listen to how Jesus tells the story: “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’” (Matthew 25:7-9). The foolish bridesmaids thought that the ones who had come prepared should make up for their irresponsible behavior. They wanted them to give up part of the oil they had brought, and thought they were mean for not doing so — even though it would have meant that there would not have been enough oil for anyone, and the wedding party would have had to walk part of the way in the dark.
In essence, they were blaming the others for not being able to be a part of the procession. They eventually wandered off to look for oil, but came back without any. Perhaps they figured it was too late for it to matter. Everyone was already at the groom’s house by now. So they went expecting to be let into the feast, but when they knocked at the door they were denied entrance. We are not told about their reaction to being rebuffed, but if I know anything about people they probably became angry at the groom and his family and blamed them for not being able to be a part of the feast. They probably spread rumors about what horrible people they were, and how terrible the bride looked anyway.
But Jesus’ point in telling the story is that this is what it will be like when Jesus returns for his bride, the church. We are to be ready. We are not to depend on someone else. We cannot ride the coat tails of someone else’s spirituality. We can’t stand around thinking that Jesus won’t really demand this kind of obedience from us. We cannot put off till tomorrow what we know should be done today. We must take responsibility for our own lives and be ready. No one can do it for us. We won’t be able to blame anyone else, for the Bible says, “So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12). It also says, “Each one should carry his own load” (Galatians 6:5).
Perhaps this is obvious, but if you want to learn how to do what is right, the second thing you need to do is: You must desire to do what is right. Many people are completely capable of doing what is right, but they do not want to do what is right. They believe that doing what is right is not as much fun. It is too confining and restrictive. They are bent on what they want to do, and are not really interested in God’s will. They know the right thing, but they do not want to do the right thing.
I believe that the reason a person gets stuck at this point is that they see the Christian life as just following a bunch of rules. Even church people think that being a Christian is all about being a nice person. But the Christian life is not about following rules, it is about following a person. It is not about laws, it is about love. It is about having a love relationship with Jesus Christ and wanting to be like him.
Here is where most people go astray. They see God as the big Guy in the sky who is up there watching for everything they do wrong. He is the rule man. But God is the love man. He is not interested in how well we perform, but how much we love him. In fact, we can keep all the rules and still fall short, because we have missed the most important thing that God wants from us — our hearts. If our obedience is out of fear instead of love it means little. Our obedience must be loving obedience. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15). Love is a prerequisite for true obedience. Love is also what makes obedience a joy. It is what makes us want to do what is right. You can’t obey someone you don’t love. Dallas Willard, in his outstanding book The Spirit of the Disciplines, comments on this verse saying, “He is teaching that obedience and love go together because love alone stays to find a way to obey.”
In learning to do the right thing, the third aspect is this: You must know what is right. How do you know what is right? In our culture you go by how you feel. If it feels like the right thing, then it must be the right thing. Actually, the feeling is not so much that it feels right, but it feels like what I want. And since what I want to do is what so many other people want to do, it appears that everybody is doing it. And if everybody is doing it, it must be right.
You don’t want to base everything on how you feel or what everyone else is doing. You want to base what you are doing on the solid Word of God. And you cannot base your life and actions on the Word of God if you do not read the Word of God. But even then, you will run into situations that are not talked about in the Bible. What then? When much of life is not black and white, but varying shades of gray, what do you do? You pray and ask for guidance. You ask what Jesus would do. You talk to other Christians who are faithfully walking with God and get their opinion. You wait on God. You sit in silence to hear his voice. And after all that, you check your motives. What are the things that are making this difficult? Are there areas of self-interest here that I am not willing to give up? Is my motive to bring glory to God or glory to myself? What are the things informing and influencing my choices? Am I wanting to please myself? Please others? Or please God? If you are going to err, err on the side of pleasing God and doing what is best for others. If there is any question about the rightness of what you want to do, go to the side of doing what will never be questioned.
Don’t be distracted by what others are doing. You remember the story of Peter when he met up with Jesus after the resurrection. Jesus told Peter how he was going to die and said to him, “Follow me” (John 21:19). How do you respond when you have just been told you are going to die a horrible death by crucifixion? Peter looked around and saw John. He said, “What about him? How is he going to die? Am I the only one who has to go through this?” But Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me” (John 21:22). It really doesn’t matter what others are doing, or whether their life is easier than yours. Your only task is to follow Christ and do what he has told you to do, and live the life he has given you to live.
Fourth, in learning to do the right thing: You must have a plan to keep you on the right path. You cannot just hope everything will go okay and that you make all the right decisions. It does not happen automatically. It only happens on purpose when you seek the will of God intentionally. So many people ask God to forgive their sins and come into their lives thinking that is the beginning and the end of it. It is as if they wipe their foreheads and say, “Thank God that is over.” No, it is not over. It has only begun. His sanctifying power is released into our lives and begins a process that will be at work in us until the day we die. The Christian life is a pilgrimage, a journey of walking toward God. It is dying daily. It is walking with the Savior through the valleys and on the mountains. It is painful and wonderful at the same time. But I must be prepared for the journey.
What if an athlete lined up for a race, but he had failed to train for the race? He didn’t feel like getting up in the morning and facing those hills and the grinding boredom of the flats. What if a boxer got into the ring and failed to spend any time in the gym? He never did any weight training, never ran, never hit the body bag. What if the musician never practiced, even though they were faced with an upcoming concert? What if someone fancied themselves to be an artist and just started splashing paint on a canvass without practicing the basics of art? What if the professor never studied? How could he answer the questions of his students? And what if the student never studied? We know what happens to those people. They fail. They do not succeed because they did not have a plan, and they did not follow a plan. They did not go into training. They did not discipline themselves.
Why is it, then, that so many Christians feel that they can succeed without putting any effort into their spiritual lives? What happens to people who put no effort into their spiritual life? They fail. They do not succeed because they did not have a plan and they did not follow their plan. They do not understand that they are engaged in a spiritual battle. They think the Christian life is a cake walk. The plan should be to do the things that build spiritual muscle and endurance. The plan should be to do the things that allow you to stand in spiritual battle and not run from the fight. The plan should be that your life will be a concert for God. It should be a painting of grace and beauty. You should be able to help others with what you have learned.
But in order for that to happen, you have to be intentional about your spiritual life. You have to study. You have to practice the spiritual disciplines that will enable you to grow. You have to work on developing spiritual strength that will enable you to endure. Paul said it was like putting on spiritual armor. He wrote: “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:11-18).
It was G. K. Chesterton who said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult, and left untried.” Actually, it hasn’t even been found difficult, because most people haven’t even gotten that far.
Clarence Jordan, author of the “Cotton Patch” New Testament translation, and founder of the interracial Koinonia farm in Americus, Georgia, was getting a red-carpet tour of another minister’s church. With pride the minister pointed to the rich, imported furnishings and luxurious decorations. As they stepped outside, darkness was falling, and a spotlight shone on a huge cross atop the steeple. With a satisfied smile the preacher exclaimed, “That cross alone cost us ten thousand dollars.” “You got cheated,” said Jordan. “Times were when Christians could get them for free.”
Learning to do the right thing is as simple, and as difficult, as taking up our cross and following Christ.
Rodney J. Buchanan
August 25, 2002
Mulberry St. UMC
Mt. Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
