Doing Your Own Thing

Monday February 21,2011

I have been reading in the book of Judges over the last few days and a phrase in the NIV came to my attention a couple of times that cause me to ponder it and look to see if in my life I was manifesting that quality. In Judges 17:6 and Judges 21:25 the verses were the same, “There was no king in Israel, and everyone did as they saw fit.”. In other translations it says that everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes. In other words whatever you wanted to do you did not thinking about others or what the Lord wanted you to do, but making judgments and decisions about what felt good for you and you alone.

We have a present day phrase for that kind of action and it is called situational ethics. It basically says that there are no absolutes in life so based on the circumstances of life you make ethical decisions for the actions you are going to manifest. If the situation calls for you to lie so that you won’t get reprimanded you lie. If you need something and you don’t have it but someone else does you steal it. If you have an emotional or physical need to connect with someone you do even though it may be an inappropriate relationship. You make decisions based on your internal system of what feels good for you.

In the next couple of days I want to look at Judges to see the impact that this kind of philosophy had on the nation of Israel and see how that philosophy can impact our decisions on our daily lives.

Stay with me as we journey together.

About James Gorton

I am happily married to Nadine, a person I've known for 20+ years. She and her late husband owned Airpark Auto Service where I took my car for years. Four years after my wife died we began dating and the rest is history. We have a blended family of 6 children between us and love visiting them across this country. We recently had our third grandchild between us. We love to hike, bike and ski. I am a psychologist and do relational life coaching for marriages and families primarily. I love what I do and never get tired of seeing marriages and families move to more healthy places in their lives. Five years ago my oldest daughter Deborah encouraged me to begin writing my thought into a blog I call my Jlog (Jim's log). I have become more and more passionate in connecting everyday experiences to spiritual truths. I hope that as you read my Jlog, you will gain insight into your personal life and experience true growth in your personal and relational life.

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