Right Thinking

One of my daughter's ex, and therefore, loser boyfriends, once told her, "Your dad thinks he's always right."  My response to that charge was, "Of course I do. If I thought I was wrong, I'd change!"

I am, of course, not always right - from age 16 to about 25 or so, I was always certain of my right thinking. As it turned out, while I was never in doubt, I was seldom correct. But I always thought I was right. Today, I always think I'm right but know that I could be wrong and am open to instruction. However, you should pack a lunch if you intend to change my mind. 

If you think I am unique in my "right thinking," you need to more closely observe the rest of humanity and take a closer look in the mirror while you're at it because it is part of the human condition: "All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord" (Prov 16:2).

We all think we are right but it is God who sets the standard of truth and measures personal integrity.  Thinking a thing to be right or right for me does not make it so. God's Word makes it so, his standard is the ultimate "Gold Standard" in all things. 

It is imperative, therefore, to take the time to consult the Spirit through prayer, study of the Bible and counsel of faithful Christians before making important decisions. Relying on your own thinking and worse, feelings, can lead to ruinous outcomes like a missionary walking away from his wife and the mission to pursue a new and younger love interest. He may feel justified in his own eyes but would the Spirit of God would truly uphold that decision.

I knew a preacher in California who left his forty something wife of twenty years to marry a twenty something woman saying, "God wants me to be happy!"  Actually, the God of the Boble says to "rejoice in the wife of your youth" (Prov 5:18) not particularly in a youthful wife. 

Whatever the turn you make on the path of life, it is either a turn of self-determination or one of God's choosing. Take the time to consult the Spirit, his word and his people. Jus' Sayn.