The Right Thing

Gjyste Vjerdha was busy working her nightly, graveyard-shift cleaning job at a restaurant with her 22-year-old son, Gentjan. As she tidied up a restroom, Gjyste found some women’s rings worth thousands of dollars. The thought of keeping the treasures might have crossed her mind, but she chose to do the right thing and take the jewelry to her manager. Later that day, the rings were returned to a woman who had accidentally left them in the restroom. Gentjan said, “You get so many things by hard work; you don’t need to steal or take from someone else.”

The apostle Paul once made an appeal to his friend Philemon who had likely experienced some theft by a man named Onesimus (v.18). During a stay in prison, Onesimus had become a believer in Jesus through Paul’s ministry (v.10).

Paul wanted Philemon to welcome back this young man who had once been Philemon’s slave—a pilfering one at that! The apostle wrote that to warmly receive the changed man would be “the right thing for you to do” (v.8). It was right, for Philemon’s forgiveness would reflect what Jesus Himself had taught and modeled.

As believers in Christ, when we do the right thing, the word gets around and others can see the beauty of real faith (v.5). When we’re forgiving, generous (v.6), loving, and kind (v.10), our actions reveal a right way of living for   Jesus’ sake (v.20).

Today you might come across something that doesn’t belong to you. You might be confronted with the opportunity to forgive someone who has offended you. Each moment of your life presents a simple question: Will you do the right thing?

Doing what’s right is a reflection of real faith in Jesus. Choose, for His sake, to do what you know is right today.

—Tom Felten

Taken from “Our Daily Journey”