The Right Right and Wrong
Bible Reading: Proverbs 16:25
There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death. Proverbs 16:25
It’s a Saturday morning in mid-October. You’re inspired to play a game of football. You only have three people on a team, so you don’t want to waste anyone guarding the quarterback after the snap. You resort to the well-known rule of counting to three before the defense can rush in to tackle the quarterback.
Got the picture? You’ve got a rule. It’s what makes the game work.
Everyone understands the rule and plays by the rule.
Except for Brutus, your neighbor. When it’s your turn as quarterback, you get the snap. Brutus yells, “One!” Then he runs over the line and grinds you into the ground. Over and over.
Don’t you hate it when someone rewrites rules?
Now you might just think of Brutus as a cheat. But if Brutus takes his attitude and applies it to all of life, then he’s bigger than a cheat. He’s what we can call a relativist. And his attitude is called relativism.
Relativism has nothing to do with your relatives. It’s a way of looking at life that says right and wrong, good and bad are constantly changing. No one—not your parents, not your teachers, not a holy book like the Bible-can say what is right or wrong.
Relativism is an attitude that says:
• God’s rules are meant to ruin my fun.
• God’s rules don’t apply to me.
• I can make up my own rules.
That’s the exact opposite of the Bible’s attitude:
• God’s rules are meant for my good.
• God’s rules apply in all times and places to all people.
• God alone makes the rules.
When individual people start picking right from wrong, life ends up like that chaotic football game. Aren’t you glad that God gave us commands that don’t change—not ones that people can remake to benefit themselves and hurt others?
TALK: How do you feel when you’re playing a game and your opponents ignore the rules? How about when your teammates do? Why does God give us rules to live by?
PRAY: Father, help us to draw close to you so we can know your unchanging commands for our life.
ACT: Think of one rule or command from God you’ve been in the habit of throwing out. Make an effort to live within that rule today.