1 Kings 15:5
“Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.”
If we were to look at people and relationships through the eyes of God, we would find that we could get along with most people. God says about David in the verse above, “…David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life…” It is interesting that God says this about him. I know, I left one little line out, but if you were to read this about David and not know anything about that last line, you would think that David was a great man.
However, there is that last line that says, “…save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” Sadly, this is a part of David’s life but God chose to look at the whole percentage of David’s life. When He did, He saw a winning percentage. Certainly, David had a small percentage of his life that was not worth talking about, but do you throw the whole life out because of the small percentage or do you take the whole life into consideration and see that he had a winning percentage? God chose to look at the winning percentage when judging David. Thankfully, when we consider God’s character, He chooses to judge all of us the same way.
You would do yourself a lot of good if you could do the same thing. There are many marriages that could be much better if each spouse chose to look at the winning percentage instead of the small percentage of negatives. Instead of dwelling on the negative percentage of your spouse, you could look at all the good and thank God He has given them to you. Most marital problems come when a spouse doesn’t look at the winning percentage.
Likewise, if children would look at their parents through percentages, they would find that their parents probably have a winning percentage. There is no perfect parent, and I don’t think any parent claims to be perfect; however, many children ruin their relationship with their parents because they focus on the negative percentage instead of on the winning percentage. You could be thankful for your parents if you stopped dwelling on the negatives and realized they have a winning percentage.
This could be said about every relationship. Whether you look at your church, employment, friendship or even yourself, don’t dwell on the negative percentage, but look at the winning percentage. You will find that you could enjoy life much more if you stop dwelling on the negatives of every person or institution.
Moreover, just because people choose to look at the winning percentage doesn’t give you an out to stop working on your negative side. Instead of being satisfied with a winning percentage you should try to improve on your percentages. Looking at the winning percentages and working to lower the negative percentage will help you to keep your relationships strong and life will be more enjoyable.