Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
I was taught by my father that if you see two people quarreling, you can know who is right without even asking for any details. How? By believing Solomon, of course. That wise man said that "every man in his own eyes is right." So, there you have it, the answer to every quarrel. They are both right . . . in their own eyes.
The need to be "right" can be a burdensome snare for the soul. Those to whom God reveals His secret pathway to happiness are never those who are obsessed with being right but those who are willing to be wrong. Only those who are willing to be wrong are able to humble themselves to repent and take a new direction when God shows them His way. Only those who are willing to be wrong will ever be made right by Jesus. Only those willing to appear foolish before men will ever know what it is like to feel the confidence of God's wisdom in their hearts.
Don't be afraid to be wrong. Try sincerely to prove that what you believe about God is wrong. Search the Scriptures diligently to see whether or not you are truly in the faith of Christ. Dare to doubt your own wisdom and anybody else's, and pray for God to show you His ways. Search for the verses that seem to make you and your teacher wrong, and ask God to show you what they really mean. Consider every thought of your heart as no more than dung, and be willing to trash it. Read the Bible with the attitude of a slave who feels ignorant and helpless to understand. Honest doubt is a wonderful thing.
Jesus said that the man who tries to save his life will lose it. Then he said that if we want eternal life, then we must lose our lives for his sake. This is not the way of worldly men; they cannot resist their fleshly desire to win and be right at the expense of others. Their stubborn refusal to be wrong is what chains ungodly men in the prison of wrong, and their carnal fear of losing is what assures them that they will lose everything in the end.
Jesus said that there is only one who is good, and that is God. What we must learn as well is that there is only one who is right, and after all is said and done, there is only one who will win: God. His truth is the only truth there is. His Spirit is the only right Spirit. One day, all the pride of man will be brought low, with all their wrong ways, and the Lord alone will be praised (Isa. 2:17). Wise men and women around the world know that day is coming, and they forsake their own ways while they can. They take advantage of this golden, God-given opportunity we all have now to confess that they are wrong and to be willing to lose, so that Jesus will lead them into the everlasting way for which David so earnestly pleaded with God: "Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, O God, and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting" (Ps. 139:23-24).
David is in Paradise now because he was willing to suffer the shame and pain of confession and repentance while he lived. He was willing to lose his old way of living to gain eternal life with Christ. May we all be as wise.