There is a story in the Bible about a young man named Shechem. He wanted to marry Dinah the daughter of Jacob. (Gen 34)
Shechem had a good intention, he wanted to marry Dinah because he loved her and was attracted to her strongly.
But his process was wrong, he violated her before proposing marriage to her.
I don’t know why he would have done that but violating a lady (rape) in any culture is wrong.
Or possibly he had been raping other ladies because he was the prince of the country.
At the end of it all, even though he had good intentions, the process was wrong which led to the destruction.
Not only was Shechem destroyed but his Family and his country were destroyed.
Simeon and Levi the sons of Jacob deceived Shechem and his people by telling them to circumcise every male in their country.
Shechem informed his country people about the proposal and they accepted they respected Shechem and his father.
After the circumcision, while they were still in pain, Simeon and Levi killed Shechem, his father and the males in the country.
They plundered the country and took their wives as captives.
You can see how destruction came upon Shechem and his people because he followed a wrong process even though he had good intentions.
So, you can see that the process is equally important as the intention.
A lot of people caught doing bad will tell you they have the right Intention but when the process is bad, there is no justification.
I have seen people caught stealing and they tell you, they are doing it because they want to feed their family.
Their intentions were good but the process was bad.
May we not find ourselves in situations where following a wrong process seems to be the only option to achieve our aim?
You will see ladies prostituting just to feed their families.
They have good intentions but the process is wrong.
The same thing happened to the daughters of Lot in the Bible.
They wanted to have children in order to preserve their father’s lineage which is a good intention.
They had to sleep with their father to achieve their goal. That is a wrong process.
What should you do if you follow a wrong process already?
If you are following a wrong process already, it is time to begin to ask for mercy from God.
Pray to God for mercy and keep praying to God until He shows you mercy.
You also need to repent of your sins and stop every act of wickedness you are involved in.
Then you need to start living righteous. Do things the way God wants you to do them.
Living a righteous life may seem tough but it has great reward in the end.
How to avoid following the wrong process
To avoid following the wrong process, you need to start living a righteous life.
You cannot live a righteous life based on your strength and ability.
You can only live righteous when you have the spirit of God inside of you.
Accepting Jesus Christ into your life as your Lord and Saviour is the way to have the holy spirit inside of you.
Having the Holy Spirit inside of you will help you live a righteous life all the time. Even when you go wrong, the Holy Spirit will be there to correct you.
Set godly goals and live righteous to achieve those goals, the end will be prosperity.
Don’t follow a wrong process or pass a shortcut to achieve your goals in life, it can lead to destruction.
God wants you to prosper and He wants to show you mercy but you need to play your part by living righteous.