Surrendering Your “Right” to be “Right”

“Agree with thine adversary quickly whiles thou are in the way with him…” —Matthew 5:25

One way to improve our relationships with others is to quit trying to prove how “right” we are. Revivalist Ralph Sutera told me one time, “You need to surrender your ‘right’ to be ‘right’ if you want to restore a relationship.” The relationship is more important than you and I proving we are right and the other person is wrong.

There have been times when I’ve said, “I’m sorry,” even when I knew I was right. It meant more to me to restore the relationship than to prove I was right and lose that relationship.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:7 that it is better to be defrauded (take the blame) and gain your brother than to prove he is in the wrong and lose your brother.

The bigness of your Christian life is NOT in the tallness of your rightness. Rather, it is in the bigness of your smallness to humbly agree with your adversary and take the blame, even when it isn’t your fault.

That is what Jesus did when He HUMBLED Himself and went to the cross. Pride likes to argue, while it requires humility to take the wrong without defending our rights to be right!