Do the Right Thing
“If an animal is grazing in a field or vineyard and the owner lets it stray into someone else’s field to graze, then the animal’s owner must pay compensation from the best of his own grain or grapes.”
Exodus 22:5 NLT
I know what you’re thinking. This is not a common verse for a devotional but hear me out. I’ve been in the Old Testament for the last few months now and to be honest, even though I’ve been a believer for over a decade, I’m reading a lot of it for the first time. God has been speaking to me in these unfamiliar verses, and everything He has to say gives life, instruction, inspiration, and points to Jesus, just as much as in the New Testament.
Exodus 22 has to do with social responsibility. At first glance, you may read passages like this and feel like they’re completely unrelatable to our life today. Most of us don’t own vineyards, ox, donkey, much less slaves. If we take this passage of the Bible for face value only, we can miss the message that has impacted me greatly this morning. Are you ready to hear it? It’s really quite simple. God cares deeply, how we interact with one another, and he takes personal accountability seriously.
Example after example, I saw that God wants us to make things right when we mess up, or something we’re responsible for, hurts someone or something else. In short, God wants us to do the right thing always. Imagine how differently our world would be if people chose to do the honorable choice. I thought about how many families would be repaired, and how many less lawsuits would be filed if we truly lived this out.
Proverbs 21:3 tells us, “To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”
Reading that verse in this context has a new sting to it. We can give generously of our tithes and offerings, sacrifice time with family and friends to serve in ministry, but if in the everyday we don’t pursue righteousness we are not living our lives the way God wants us too. All throughout our day, we are faced with choices and opportunities to do the right thing, make amends, and ask for forgiveness. When we chose what is right, rather than what is easy or convenient we are made more acceptable to the Lord. I want to value being a pleasing aroma to God with my actions and choices.
Is there something God wants you to make right? I encourage you to journal about what steps you can take to do the right thing. It’s not by our might but by His spirit that we are able to accomplish such things.
I’m rooting for you!
With Love, Genesis