It's Not Always About Being Right

We all want to be right, but wanting to be right isn't always a good thing. How many times have we gotten stuck in prolonged arguments just to justify our point? It's human nature to defend ourselves, but when defending ourselves comes at the cost of hurting others, that's when being right becomes wrong. It's not always about being right. 

I never thought I had prideful issues because I was never the one to brag about myself. But after a rough day at work, God showed me the root to my hidden pride: the desire to be right. 

I hated being proven wrong. Regardless if I was truly right or wrong, I found it natural for me to defend myself. I would go all ways to prove that I was right, even if it was at the expense of hurting others through prolonged arguments. 

While the desire to be right isn't always wrong, it becomes wrong when it comes out of selfish reasons. I found that my desire to always be right was only stopping God's love from flowing through my life.  

I saw my pride hurting my relationships with my co-workers and even to my loved ones. 

Wanting to be right becomes wrong when it comes at the expense of hurting others. 

While I thought I was so far from being prideful, God showed me how my desire to be right was only building on my pride. Pride blocks God's love from flowing through our lives. When we focus on being right, we're positioning ourselves as better than others. Instead of focusing on being right, focus on helping others. 

Philippians 2:3 says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves."

Wanting to be right is a selfish desire, and in this verse, God commands us to do nothing out of selfish ambition. When we realize that we are not better than anyone else, it no longer matters if we are right or wrong. What matters at the end is that the other person's needs are served. Love cannot stem from a selfish heart, but only from a heart that puts others first. 

When we focus on valuing others above ourselves, it positions us to love them. 

God despises pride because not only does it prevent us from loving others, but it also blocks us from understanding his truth. The Saduccees and other leaders of the law in the Bible are a perfect example of what pride can do to you. 

Peter and John who were the two disciples of Jesus had healed a lame man who was disabled for 40 years. By faith and through the power of Jesus, the lame man was healed. 

While everyone was praising God for the miraculous healing that had happened, the Saduccees and leaders of the law despised that very act and wanted Peter and John to stop sharing the good news o f Jesus. Acts 4:21-22 says, "...they didn’t know how to punish them without starting a riot. For everyone was praising God for this miraculous sign—the healing of a man who had been lame for more than forty years."

Why do you think everyone was praising God except for the Sadducees and other leaders of the law?

Because they were filled with pride.

The pride of the leaders made them shameful to accept that Peter and John who were uneducated men knew more than they did. The Sadducees were known as experts of the law, yet because they had not known about Jesus, their pride prevented them from accepting Jesus as their savior. 

The Sadducees' desire to be right stopped them from accepting the miraculous power and truth of Jesus. 

We must be careful to not let our pride blind us from the reality of God's truth. Selfishness and pride do nothing but pull us away from living the life of love that God has called each of us to live. Let us put away our focus from ourselves and focus on helping others. So remember, it's not always about being right. 

Prayer: Lord, help me to focus less on being right and more on helping others so that your love may flow through my life.