Desire to Do What is Right

Doing what is right is not easy.

Oh, let me explain. There is what is right and then there is what is legal. This morning I continue my study of the word “desire” and was led to Romans chapter 7 and the passage titled “the law and sin”. A great passage that Paul wrote describing how the law leads to sin in that before we knew the law, we could not sin against it. Yet now that we know the law, we find ourselves fighting with sin over it.

“¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” – Romans 7:18-20 (ESV)

Paul understood that our flesh self is controlled by the sin in the world. That when we set out to do something, we are blinded by that in the world that keeps us in line according to the law. And by doing so, we are a slave to sin that is found as a result of the law.

But, Paul also understood that internally we are good thanks to the LORD. We have accepted Him into our hearts and there He dwells within us to provide us that guidance to what is good and right. We have, as Paul states and I believe as well, “the desire to do what is right”. Yet, we have the world out there advising to follow the law and therefor are driven to sin.

It is interesting that Paul declares that he does not have the ability to carry out what is right when in fact he is imprisoned for doing the work of the LORD. Paul was unapologetic at doing the work of the LORD and for that he was imprisoned. He was not following the law, but following that what is right in the LORD. But, Paul, being the man of God he was, was not satisfied with just his doing what was right. He wanted that all would do right.

Again, doing what is right is not easy. I may be contrary to the law of man. But, I have to remember that what is legal, or within the law, may not always be what is right in the name of the LORD. I have to obey the law of man where I can and when the Law of God, or that which is right, is more than the law of man, I should do that which is right. I am judged physically here in this world, but the judgment of the LORD in heaven is where my allegiance is ultimately found. The consequences of this world are of no consequence when I have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

What actions are you generally taking? Are you following the law, or what is right? What if you worked to do what is right regardless of the consequences in this world knowing that you answer to the LORD ultimately?