“If it Feels Good Do it!”
Proverbs 14;12, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” (NIV).

 I was sitting at a red light in the turn lane the other afternoon. The lights here take forever to turn but it seems when they do, they only stay green for just a few seconds. If traffic doesn’t quickly move when it turns, you will usually get stuck having to stop again when only one or two cars have gone through! It is really frustrating sometimes when you get behind someone who is texting or on the phone and not paying attention. Now I try to be courteous and give folks a while before I decide to blow the horn to “politely” ask them to please go on. There are some folks around here however who, if you don’t move within 2 seconds, will remind you to do so by second number 3!

Well, the light changed, and there was one car in front of me. It had taken forever for it to change in the first place, and I was tired of waiting. Now the light had finally changed, but the car ahead was just sitting there not moving. I could see that the “lady” had her head down obviously texting or at least looking at her phone and was oblivious to the fact that the light was green!  After several seconds, I got tired of her texting and I was getting a little flustered. All of a sudden, I spotted a bumper sticker on her car that said “If it feels good do it”. Well, I took her advice. I blew my cool, and eased up until our bumpers touched. She didn’t move, so it was obvious to me she was having trouble with her car, so I helped her, by pushing her through the intersection. That felt so good that when she waved a “thank you” by giving me a thumbs up, I just kept it going until we got up to about 70 miles per hour and we were moving along nicely. It really felt good by then so I decided to keep going through the next intersection too.  About that time however, I could tell it was not fun for her any more, as she was waving some strange gestures to me, apparently wanting to tell me she had been having fun but needed to do something else now. (You know, the more I think about it, the more I am wondering now if it was really a thumbs up she showed me or something else??Oh well.)    I needed to get back to work, so I slowed down and let her go on by herself, which she promptly did. I turned and went on my way feeling really good about helping her have a little fun. You know, I really do like her bumper sticker!

Well no, I actually didn’t do that, but I really wanted to!! Have you ever been there? I’ll bet you have at one time or another. I thought about the golden rule and felt that I needed to do a little more praying for patience! “Do unto others” and all that you know! I was just thinking that there are a lot of folks out there who do just what that bumper sticker said. Whatever they choose to do, it doesn’t matter to them whether it is right or wrong. They just throw caution, good judgment, and morals to the wind and “Just Do it”.

The Bible says in Proverbs 14;12, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” (NIV). We hear a lot about “Benchmarks” these days. The dictionary says that a benchmark is, ”A standard or point of reference against which things may be compared or assessed.” In other words we measure things against a benchmark to determine if they are correct. Friends the Word of God is our benchmark. It holds the standards for living and for our lifestyles. If there is ever a question about something we want to do, the principle for the answer is found in the God’s word.

Many times as a Pastor I have had teenagers come to me with the question “Bro. Tommy, is it right to do…..” followed by something that a lot of others were doing. The person posing the question was not sure in their heart if it was right or wrong. Either that or their parents or friends, or teachers had already told them it was wrong. I usually told them, “If you have to ask it is wrong”. Meaning that if you asked, you probably already know the answer and are just seeking justification for doing something you know is wrong in the first place!

In a world that is doing whatever feels good, I think we need to focus on doing what’s right, according to the BenchMark!

Blessings!
Bro. Tommy