I don’t know about you, but I’m right all the time. If you and I have a difference of opinion, there’s just no question that I’m smarter.

Toddlers think this. Teenagers think this. And adults think this too. Now think about Jesus who is 100 percent right 100 percent of the time. Sometimes, since we’re always right, we disagree with him.

So how does Jesus handle people like us who think we are right and he’s not? He hangs in there patiently. He gladly suffers injustice instead of us, as if he’s wrong even though he’s not. “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (Matthew 26:21). 

Jesus is saying to us, “I need to respond to their lack of faith and their love of self by selflessly taking on injustice and suffering as if I’m the one who is wrong.”

Can you follow this Jesus when he is guiding you away from selfishness? Can you be more patient with others and pray for extra understanding of their perspective? 

Yes, because Jesus is always right. And his righteousness is not a rule for you but a gift for you. Just the right gift, of course.