Proverbs 16

"All a man's ways seem innocent to him but motives are weighed by the Lord."

"There is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death."

Here is it in black in white, right in God's Word, its a hard truth to swallow, but we can't deny it can we?

You and I are really good at fooling ourselves.

I know for me, and I'm probably the only one, but I am pretty good at thinking through ways to get what I want. The term for what Solomon is writing about is Rationalization. You know what that is right? I do. We all do it. We all hold beliefs that run contrary to what is True. Here's an example- I was leading a Neighborhood group at a previous church that will stay unnamed. Our Pastor preached on worry, he claimed that the Bible said NOT to worry. I listened to his message and decided he had probably interpreted the Scriptures accurately. That week at our neighborhood group we started to discuss his sermon. At one point a woman and a man (not married to each other) began to argue the benefits of worry. I kid you not. I remember thinking these might be the two dumbest people I know, but they aren't they are really smart, successful, and they love Jesus.

You see it doesn't make you or me evil to rationalize our struggles and behavior, its part of being human. I decided to not worry to much about their rationalization of worry since I was in the middle of rationalizing other equally negative patterns in my life (gluttony).

Here is the solution to rationalization. Find an honest person. Give them permission to tell you the truth. When they have the guts to tell you the truth don't get mad. Go evaluate their feedback and implement change based on the truth rather than your "feelings".

Can someone tell him the truth about his hair?

Most of us have a hard time telling people the truth. We are way too nice. Don't believe me- go watch American Idol re-runs with Simon, why do so many bad singers think they are good singers? Because their parents, grandparents, and church people lied to them. Please don't let Simon be the first person to tell your kids the truth.


We all rationalize and avoid the truth.





The wisdom of this passage is this: we all have behaviors that we need to change and they are based upon beliefs that come out of out rationalizations which are created to make sure we don't "feel" bad about ourselves. God is the purveyor of Truth. We must let him judge our hearts, our motives. The ways that often seem right to us lead to death. Still don't believe me? Read Proverbs 16:25.