Why

Black. White.
Stop. Go.
Right. Wrong.
Why is it seldom so easy?

Light and dark.
Good and evil.
Life and death.
They cannot coexist. The division is clear and unyielding.
Why do we have such a hard time seeing it?

Smudged lines and vague instructions aren't the problem. God didn't create a muddled universe. He didn't make the rule book a cryptic and complicated mess, in hopes that we'd mess up in our efforts to figure out how to play the game. He didn't set us up to fail.
The problem isn't the way the lines are drawn. The problem is with our eyes.

Given the clearest possible instructions--"of this tree you shall not eat"--we still managed to rebel, and now we see all as through a glass, darkly. Truth is still truth, and it's written on our hearts, whether we want to see it or not. Good is good, and evil is evil. There is no grey area; no middle ground.

I think what messes us up--even when, by the Spirit's power, our eyes start to open--is that in our quest for righteousness, we're usually looking for the wrong thing. What we'd really like to find is a step-by-step guide to holiness through external obedience. This action always takes precedence over that action. The less you talk, the less trouble you'll be in. Work always comes before play. Mercy always trumps justice. We may not like them much, but regulations are relatively easy to obey. Hard-and-fast laws of good behavior make life simple, comfortable...and hollow.

In the grand scheme of things, it's pretty easy for me to lift the corners of my mouth into a smile, wrap my fingers around a doorknob, and hold the door open for the lady behind me at the store. It's even possible, without exerting an enormous amount of energy (most days), to do so while feeling quite pleasant about it inside. I feel I have done well. It was the right thing to do, and I did it. Do I really think that's all it takes to please God? I'd like to think that, but I know I'm wrong.

I ask myself, then...Why do I do what I do? Why do I do even a simple "good deed" like opening the door for a stranger? I can think of about a million wrong answers.
Maybe I want the lady I'm helping to admire me and think what a nice person I am.
Maybe I want the young couple in the checkout aisle (who I hope are watching) to notice what I'm doing and think what a nice person I am.
Maybe someone in the general vicinity knows someone else that I know and want to impress, and I'm hoping news of my good deed will eventually get around to the that person.
Maybe I am pleased at the level of sanctification I have evidently now reached.
Maybe it just makes me feel good to remind myself what a nice person I'm capable of being.
Maybe I'm imagining the lady is a queen of some distant land, and obviously you open doors for queens of distant lands.
Maybe I feel guilty for snapping at my brother this morning, and now I've redeemed myself.
Maybe I was rigorously trained as a small child to always open doors for people behind me at stores, and I'm still afraid of being spanked if I don't.
Maybe I'm paranoid about bad karma catching up with me.
Maybe someone told me last week what a courteous young lady I am, and I feel I must keep up that reputation.
Maybe I'm upset with myself for being so discourteous in the past, and I'm doing penance by opening as many doors for people as I can find in an hour.
Maybe I missed lunch, and I'm hoping the lady has a granola bar or two in her purse that she'll feel like sharing if I'm nice.
Maybe...a thousand other things.

But there's only one right answer.
The lady behind me at the store was made in the image of God, and He has commanded me to honor His image by loving her as I love myself. God sent His only son to live and die in my place, to ransom me from the pit of hell and bring me instead to eternal life in His presence. Out of thankfulness for what He has done, how can I not offer myself as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God? My chief end in life is to glorify and serve my God forever. If I love Him, I will keep His commandments.

How often I do what looks like the right thing. How seldom I do it for the right reason.

1 Samuel 16 : 7b
For the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

Colossians 3 : 23
And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.

1 Corinthians 10 : 31
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.