Over the years, the term “The Right Thing to Do” has been used in various ways. A film producer made a film in the late ’80s called “Do the Right Thing,” politicians have run campaigns saying if elected they will always seek to do “What is Right,” and parents have simply told their children to always choose “The Right Thing to Do.” As Christians, we are given instruction that when it comes to our speech and our actions that we are called to make the same choice.
AtkinsIn Matthew 5:37, Jesus gave a very clear command to us as his followers: “But let your Yes be Yes, and your No, No. For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” Jesus desires for you and me to be people of integrity who can be taken at our word. Our speech with those inside the family of God and those outside should be the same. If we tell a person that we will do something, then the performance of that task, or the honoring of that covenant, is “The Right Thing to Do.” Transversely, if we say we will not take part in something, or be swayed in our conviction on a matter, then fulfilling that response as well is “The Right Thing to Do.”
We are living in a day and age where too many times we see Christians floundering on the subject of “The Right Thing to Do.” We have allowed the world to penetrate our thoughts and actions to the degree that we are no longer men and women who are known for our Yes being Yes, and our No being No. The time has come for us all to really examine our conduct and our speech to make sure that we are being faithful to the one who not only saved us, but whose name we carry into the world that is desperately looking for men and women of integrity.
“There is never a wrong time to do the right thing” was the statement I made to a South Carolina senator when I was testifying before a Senate Subcommittee about allowing stores that sell alcohol to also be open on Sundays. He told me after the meeting adjourned that he would have voted no, but there was already a majority vote for it to pass and then to send it back to the Senate. My fear is that too many Christians are taking the same thought process into the world. The world has already taken so much ground from the church that we never even fought to keep. The church has now been relegated and minimized to obscurity, to where now many in the church have said, by silence or by deeds, “It would not have mattered in the long run anyway if we had objected.”
Let me encourage you, as we strive for Great Commission Living in 2012 for our personal walks, that we be known as a Matthew 5:37 people. Men and women, the world is watching, and the world is listening. The question is, what will they see and hear. My prayer is that they will see the SCBC and the 2,100 churches made up of more than 750,000 South Carolinians living out “The Right Thing to Do.”
– Atkins is pastor of Powdersville First Baptist Church and president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.