Blessed Are They Who Hunger And Thirst For Righteousness (Beatitudes #4) (Photo credit: loswl)
What’s one word that describes you?
And, no, I’m not looking for the word “Christian.” Or the much cooler “Jesus-follower” (dash added to make it one word)
There are lots of things to describe us tough girls. But there is one that should stand out above all else.
Righteous.
right·eous [rahy-chuhs]
adjective
3. acting in an upright, moral way; virtuous: a righteous and godly person.
Regarding righteousness, you might be in desperate need of a smack upside your head. As Christian girls, we tend to lean in one of two ways.
-Self-righteous. You think you’ve got it all together. You’ve curbed the swearing. You don’t watch anything with an R rating (and even PG 13 can be pushing it…the exception being The Passion Of The Christ because Jesus makes R okay.) Not only do you have it all together, you criticize, judge, and put down others who aren’t as righteous as you.
-Lazy righteous. You don’t feel like you have to have it all together because, hey! That’s what grace is for! You know Jesus will forgive you, so you let out the occasional bleep word. You don’t care what you watch as long as certain people don’t know you’re watching it. And if someone does call you on your lazy righteousness, you laugh at their naivety, religiousness and…well, self-righteousness.
Which camp do you tend to set your tent up in?
The Bible gives us a very different idea of what righteousness should look like.
“But that is not the way you learned Christ! – assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through evil desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” – Ephesians 4:20-24
So here’s the question: Do you look like Jesus?
Righteousness is humble (meaning you don’t brag, boast, or pump yourself up about it)
Righteousness is virtuous (meaning it permeates every part of you 24/7)
Righteousness is moral (meaning it holds up to the standards of the Bible, not what you want them to be)
Righteousness comes from submitting ourselves to the will and ways of God – not from making a giant list of do’s and don’t. Not from doing whatever we want and only putting on righteousness when it seems fit.
Question: Do you need a smack on the head regarding how self-righteous or un-righteous you are? Which way do you tend to lean? What habits do you need to break or start in order to daily put on the righteousness of Christ?
Related articles
- Tough Issues of Christianity: Morality vs. Righteousness (ptl2010.com)
- Day 23 – Righteous (divinelydefined.wordpress.com)
Crystal Mazzuca
