English poet Alexander Pope once wrote, “One truth is clear, whatever is, is right.” But most of us would emphatically say that there are many situations and actions in this world that are not right. In fact, as the Bible plainly reveals, much of what is, is wrong. The apostle Paul wrote, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10). This lack of righteousness—right thinking and doing—is the root of all wrongness.

We live in a fallen world in which much needs to be made right, but the Bible also teaches that one day Jesus will return as conquering king, and make everything right: “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4). Until then, the Bible calls Christ followers to be God’s representatives and to right wrongs—to work to bring about justice and righteousness.

Who hasn’t, at some point, angrily declared, “That ain’t right”? We see something that seems so obviously wrong and we’re surprised such a thing could happen—for example, an adult abusing a child or a business owner refusing service to someone because of the person’s ethnicity. But there are some, perhaps a very few, who see nothing wrong with abusing children or with racial discrimination. Humanity does not, universally, have inherent standards for justice and righteousness. Why?

A Standard of Rightness

French philosopher Jean-Paul Sarte was an atheist, but he understood what too few humans see or are willing to admit. He said, “No finite point has meaning without an infinite reference point.” We humans are finite, imperfect. Finite beings can grasp only portions of the infinite—in this case, perfect justice and righteousness. The whole is beyond us. We need that infinite reference point—an unchanging standard of how things ought to be.

Our infinite God is the reference point. And He gave us the Bible as our standard—our guide that marks the path to infinite justice and righteousness. One psalmist wrote, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Psalm 119:105). Another psalmist observed, “For with you [God] is the fountain of life; in your light we see light” (Psalm 36:9).

When we hold our thoughts and our actions alongside the straightedge of God’s Word, then rightness becomes much clearer to us, and wrongness should become much less attractive.