society encourages us to obey our own impulses. There’s no truth, nothing absolutely right or wrong for everyone, everywhere, all the time. What is right for me may not be right for you. If I’m wrestling with a moral decision, I should follow the feelings produced by my personal experiences.
a great flaw in this way of thinking: What I believe and what is real may be entirely different things. Jacob sent his favorite son, Joseph, to check on the boy’s older brothers. When they saw Joseph coming, the sons of Jacob stripped the young man of his fancy robe, put him in a waterless pit, and sold him as a slave. To conceal this heinous act of treachery, Joseph’s brothers dipped his tunic in goat’s blood and showed it to their father. When the old man recognized it, he said, “A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces” (Gen. 37:33).
Convinced that his son was dead, Jacob wept bitterly, refusing the comfort of his children. Was Joseph truly dead, though? No, he was alive and in good health.
Jacob’s false belief produced anguish. He suffered acute loss for 22 years before discovering the wonderful truth. His beloved Joseph was alive and well! What Jacob had believed and what was real were two different things.
beliefs hurt us too. We’ll answer to God not for what we think is right but for what is truly right. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus warned, “but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness'” (Matt. 7:21-23).