Look At It This Way...

“One thing for certain about you, Guido,” he said as he looked at my messy desk, “you don’t have OCD!”

“What do you mean, I don’t have OCD?” I asked.

“Well, if you had an obsessive compulsive disorder you would be arranging and rearranging your desk to make it neat and orderly. Then you would do it over and over again. But, it’s not neat, never has been and probably never will be. I’ll bet that your drawers are the same.”

Realizing that he was right, I decided not to argue with him. He was a psychologist and I was embarrassed.

Many people do arrange and then rearrange things. Some people do things over and over again to make sure that everything is perfect, or as close to perfect as it can be. They check and then recheck what they have already checked. Being around people who have habits like that make me feel guilty. They have to do things right!

But there is a vast difference between doing things right and doing the right things. We can waste an entire day arranging and then rearranging food in our homes while our neighbor goes hungry. Or, we may arrange and then rearrange our cramped closets when we know there are people who are cold and have no warm clothes. We may be doing things right but we are certainly not doing the right things.

Righteousness in God’s Word is a combination of both behaviors. Not only do we want to do things right as He commands us to do in His Word, but we also we want to do the right things that will please and honor Him.

Prayer: Help us, Father, to be aware about how we do “righteousness.” May our lives meet Your expectations. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture for Today: Proverbs 1:3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair;