Sayings

Sayings

“Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?”

                                      Genesis 4:6-7

My mom had quite a number of sayings that she used over the years, some more frequently than others, to punctuate a discussion or address a situation that she was involved in. For example, “what goes around comes around” was one of her favorites, used in those situations where someone was treating someone else in a way they would never want to be treated themselves. Really, it was just the golden rule of “do to others what you would have them do to you” modified for additional emphasis.

Another favorite, and I’ll give you the personal version, “Joey, there’s a God up above” was used in well-defined situations where it seemed someone was getting away with something that wasn’t right. “There’s a God up above” was my mom’s way of saying that the Lord sees everything, that nothing escapes his sight,  that He is the judge of each man and woman, and that He will deal with the things we have done, right and wrong, here on earth.

Probably the saying that I remember the best though was “what’s right is right.” When we were having one of those around the kitchen table discussions about an area of questionable integrity that was going on, of an area of behavior that even a very basic knowledge of right and wrong condemned, “what’s right is right” was her trump card. That saying appealed to the listener’s basic standards and values, a call to realize that some things are so obviously right as to be beyond discussion or exception. And it was understood that the counter “what’s wrong is wrong” was a given, no debate needed and no special knowledge required for something so clear.

“What’s right is right” runs so counter to the situational ethics that so many rely on to justify their behavior. In areas where the Word of God is clear and where the demands of conscious ring loudly, the situations that a person faces are too often used to justify choices, decisions and behavior that clearly violate the moral and ethical laws of God. And unfortunately, many realize all too late that the Lord’s standards of right of wrong, of commitment and faithfulness, are not subject to negotiation based on our own circumstances; situation ethics doesn’t work with a God who is the same yesterday, today, forever. Let’s ask the Lord to lift the veil over our eyes in any areas where we’ve compromised, justifying our actions by looking at the situations we face. Because, after all, “what’s right is right!”

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church