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Seems Right In Our Own Eyes

A man of extraordinary wisdom once wrote:  “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.”  (Prov 21:2)

From what I’ve read, our physical eyes in the above verse refer to one’s intellectual point of view.  The reference to the heart is used to identify where our thoughts and motives come from.  The verse then communicates that it is so very easy to rationalize one’s point of view and think we are right but the Lord knows that is really going on.

Not only can we rationalize our point of view but we can also be so very easily deceived:  “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way that leads to death” (Prov 14:12).  This proverb points to the fact that there is a pathway that can seem straight and easy to travel but it can also lead to destruction.  Some think that the road that seems right in this proverb actually represents wickedness that is disguised as good.

Those two verses, written several thousand years ago, are still so very appropriate for today.  Anyone can express their opinion on social media.  And while such opinions may seem right in the eyes of those giving them, they are often just rationalized points of view that sometimes can even be dangerously deceptive.  Even the mainstream media, once assumed to be somewhat objective, seems only inclined to report that which aligns with their biases and agendas.  And what seems good to them might actually be wickedness in disguise. 

So how do we sort through the deceptions that bombard us each and every day?  How do we figure out what is actually true?

In order to know what is deceitful, we must know what is true.  In order to verify what is true, we need to look at its source.

In addressing those in reverse order, the source of truth is the Word of God:  “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17).    

Truth is also embodied in a person and that person is Jesus Christ:  “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). 

Not only is He the truth, but He is the one from whom all truth comes:  “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17).

When confronted with the deceptions, biases and agendas that bombard us today, we need to look to Jesus, who is the truth and source of all truth.  We also need to be like the Bereans who took what they heard and examined the Scriptures to see whether these things were so (Acts 17:11). 

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