"Doing What's Right." 

Well, shucks, I know what is right and what is wrong. Then again, since I am a human being, I have to rephrase the statement. "While I may most certainly know the difference between right and wrong, do I always take the high road or do I occasionally fudge a tad when no one is watching or when what I am about to do is no big deal?"

Let's quit playing games here and get a real example just a bit off from what most of us might experience when it comes to doing right. What if I am in a situation that requires me to report any activity that, by definition, is illegal or harmful? Does that mean that I am to rat on a friend, a colleague, a neighbor? I am required to be a "whistle blower?" We know that those ethically-minded do-gooders have been fired and can't get a job sweeping streets because they lacked company loyalty.

I remember the pressure when I was a young boy in school and someone did something, broke the rules. The teacher would look at the class – and I always thought she was looking at me for some reason – and say, "Who did this? You know who did this! Everyone will stay after school until we find the guilty one!"

It was going to be a long, long, evening.

Do you think that I would tell? If the student happened to be a pretty girl, I might just take the blame so she would look my way. Nah, too risky.

Anyway, the deed wasn't so bad: stopping up all the toilets, setting off the alarm, locking the door to the teacher's lounge. Did I say I did it? You folks are so suspicious.

The fact is that we do want and we do expect those in positions of authority and leadership to be above reproach because we depend upon them and should not accept behavior that is beneath our standards, oath of office or vows taken. What confuses us is that the public will allow some leaders to lead less than moral lives, lie with reckless abandonment and even put our future in jeopardy as long as those leaders will provide – or usually promise to provide – for our well-being, security and future stability.

Here's the rub. I truly believe that most of us try to live by very high standards of morality, ethics and appropriate conduct. At the same time, I also realize that all of us – as best we try – fail miserably now and then. This is why we have laws, codes of conduct and societal restrictions to help us work and live together in harmony and not in constant conflict. However, we accept the hard fact that we are incapable of perfection. We could try to live in isolation, but God expects us to live in community.

On the very first page of my study Bible, I have written these words from John Wesley, "Let me do all the good that I can, every time that I can, to everyone that I can, for as long as I can."

That, very simply and to the point, is doing what's right. God gives us all the chances we need today, tomorrow and for one day at a time.

Thanks, God!