Generally speaking, right or wrong is pretty easy to discern. Even little children know the difference between right and wrong. They won’t understand sin and righteousness until they’re older. But they understand whether something’s right or wrong at a very early age.
Nevertheless, there are times when knowing the right thing to do is more complicated because of extenuating circumstances.
For example, what’s the right thing do when your child hits you up for money? What if he comes back a second time for more? What’s the right thing to do with a child who’s an addict?
What do you do when your decision will hurt their feelings and might even cause them to say bad things about you to others? What if your decision regarding one person negatively affects another person?
There are innumerable examples of situations that complicate the decision. Yet, I have learned three things over the years that will help you make the right decision regardless of the situation.
There is no right way to do wrong. No matter how many ways you try to work out a decision to ease your own conscience or minimize the hurt to others, there is a right decision and a wrong one. And the Lord knows which one is right.
Remove from your thinking all other outcomes and factors that are weighing on your heart and affecting your mind. If you are trying to find a way to make everybody happy, or keep from hurting people’s feelings, or minimize bad reactions toward you, you are hopeless to make the right decision with certainty.
You must simply decide based on the answer to one question, “What’s right”? Right or wrong, by itself, is pretty easy to discern. Things get complicated when you’re trying to find a way to do the wrong thing and make it work out right. The truth is, you can’t. There is NO RIGHT WAY TO DO WRONG.
If a decision is wrong, it’s wrong. And there is no way to make it right by finagling. It’s impossible.
You can never go wrong doing right. Prayerfully and biblically seek the right decision. You will find it. You will see it as clearly as the sunrise on a cloudless day. Forget about the extenuating circumstances. They are not a factor when you are seeking to do the right thing.
And when you know what’s right, do it. You CAN’T GO WRONG DOING RIGHT. Right works out right every time. It may cost you, it may hurt someone’s feelings, or it may even be harder on you than doing something wrong. But right is right and that’s what we’re about, doing right.
When you do right God will help you, Ps 125:4. The Psalmist wrote, “Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts”. God blesses righteousness. He will help you because he knows that your desire is to do right regardless of the circumstances and results.
And you can do anything God wants you to do when you know God will help you do it. Don’t concern yourself with your own selfish desires or the feelings of others when making decisions of right or wrong. Concern yourself only with truth and God’s will.
Conclusion: As you make decisions in the future, remember these principles. There is no right way to do wrong. You can never go wrong doing right. When you do right God will help you.