28 September 2007 Devotion for Today "Pure in One's Own Eyes" Proverbs 16:2

28 September 2007 Devotion for Today  "Pure in One's Own Eyes" Proverbs 16:2

Have you ever seen the laundry detergent commercial on television that

does the "before and after" routine.  It will show a segment with a

white garment that is soiled by grease and dirt.  The demonstrator then

takes the garment, throws it into a large glass bowl with the brand

of laundry detergent, he stirs it around with a spoon, and then, voila!

The white garment is pulled out just as white and clean as it can be.

This makes for an interesting commercial and to be certain it has 

generated sales.  But each time I view this commercial (I don't any

more, for we are presently removed from American television), I think

about how we all try to do this with ourselves, our motives, and our

own version of what we believe to be true.  

The writer of Proverbs comments upon this briefly, but pointedly in

Proverbs 16:2: "All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but

the Lord weighs the spirits."  What does this mean?  It simply means

that we naturally try to justify everything that we do. The things that

we do that are right we take credit for them because of the principles

we hold.  And even the things that we do that are wrong we genuinely

believe we did them for the right reasons- even when they did turned

out badly.  We cannot do right by doing the wrong thing-but very often

we believe that we can.  This, of course, would be true if man were the

common denominator of truth, but he isn't.  The reason is because there

are presently 6 Billion of them on the planet-and they cannot all be

right.  This is why God, "the One who weighs the spirits" is the ultimate

measure of truth.  He weighs what is right and what is wrong.  He sees

not only what we do but also why we do them.  

Your ways are good or bad not in comparison with somebody else, but 

weighed out according to God's standard.  Do you see yourself pure in

your own eyes, or under the purity of the righteousness of Jesus Christ?

 

 

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@embarqmail.com

jcrussell@liberty.edu

 

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