For the good that I would I do not, but the evil that I would not that I do.

- Romans 8 v 9.

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a world where everybody did the right thing. What a wonderful world that would be. I do not mean whatever is right in their own eyes, but that which is right in the sight of others. The true definition of what is right is only determined by how it benefits everybody else but you. Doing wrong is rooted in selfishness to the detriment of everyone else.

United States Senator Olympia Snowe is resigning from politics. She says nobody wants to come to an agreement on that which will benefit the whole nation, not their own specific district.

That has been the problem from the beginning, the resolution between what you want and what is right. You were created by a righteous maker to do that which is right but your selfish desires lead you to do to the wrong thing and it has been downhill ever since.

Invariably, whenever what you want supersedes that which is right there results in death to a person, place or relationship. If you neglect the old adage, "do into others as you would have others do unto you," what follows is pain, trouble, suffering and sorrow.

Even if you disregard the Bible as a myth or the collection of stories as old wives' fables, the moral lessons gleaned from these writings cannot be discounted. They are as applicable today as the first time they were recorded.

Satan, falling prey to his own selfish ambitions, being evicted from heaven along with a third of the angelic host, in effect, offered a clear demonstration that that what you want can cause you to trade heaven for hell, perfection for damnation.

King David, surrendering to his lustful desires for another man's wife, Bathsheba, terminating in the deaths of her husband and a child born from this unholy union results in trouble never leaving one's household from that day forward.

Solomon, the wisest man, overcome by his prodigious appetite for exotic, ungodly women, forsook his God, benefactor and provider.

Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, refused the sage advice of his elders and lost more than half of his kingdom.

Samson, the strongest man, arrogantly dismissed the right and godly counsel of his father. He pleaded with the rebellious son not to get involved with foreign women. Instead, Samson defiantly replied, "get her for me for she pleases me well." Ultimately his selfish cravings cost him sight, his freedom and, finally, his life.

Throughout the ages, all the fairy tales, myths, legends, fables and parables have told us the same thing.

They, without exception, have warned us about the same principle.

If what you want conflicts with what is right, you will never go wrong if - as Spike Lee says - you "do the right thing."

Aretha Franklin, the great soul singer, cried, "if you want a do right woman, you've got to be a do right man."

So, as you make your path in life, stay right, do right and you will end up all right.