In today’s study, Selwyn startes to define what it means to be righteous. “The desire for righteousness – the act of hungering and thirsting for it – is a longing to be as free from sin as possible and to be in a right relationship with God. In other words, it is responding to all that is right and good and true as laid out for us in the Scriptures. …
We all commit sins, and none of us is going to achieve perfection whilst in this mortal body. But even though we sin, we must see the necessity of repenting of it and claiming God’s grace to avoid sinning in a similar way in the future, This is how we grow.
When we commit ourselves to righteousness, and are quick to repent when sin enters our lives, then we move forward even though we may never achieve absolute holiness and perfection here on earth.”
The two references given for extra study are also very good in portraying different aspects of righteousness. Take the words of Isaiah 45:21b-25; ‘Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked. Before me every knee will bow, by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, “In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength“. All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame. But in the Lord all the descendents of Israel will be found righteous and will exult.’
I think that these verses are telling us that righteousness comes from God – that we need to turn to Him to be saved. It’s also a sign of our love for Him by wanting to pursue righteousness. If you say you love someone then you try to act in a way that demonstrates that love – it is an active desire on our part to undertake activities which express our love. Consequently, in our hearts we need to actively hunger for righteousness because we know that our sin has caused our God to suffer – we demonstrate our love by following Jesus away from our sinful lives towards a time when we will be found righteous. I like the words of John 14:21 ‘Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.’
Likewise, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:9-11; ‘As it is written: “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.’
Generosity demonstrates our love for others and reflects God’s love working in us. Perhaps, certain types of sin arise out of selfishness and greed; therefore to counter this rebellous nature we practice a loving generousity and this is one way to hunger and thirst for righteousness – do you agree?Â
Selwyn’s prayer: “O lord, with all my heart I long to be a righteous person – someone who lives according to the Scriptures. And help me, Lord, never to excuse my sin but always be ready to repent of it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
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What is righteousness?
In today’s study, Selwyn startes to define what it means to be righteous. “The desire for righteousness – the act of hungering and thirsting for it – is a longing to be as free from sin as possible and to be in a right relationship with God. In other words, it is responding to all that is right and good and true as laid out for us in the Scriptures. …
We all commit sins, and none of us is going to achieve perfection whilst in this mortal body. But even though we sin, we must see the necessity of repenting of it and claiming God’s grace to avoid sinning in a similar way in the future, This is how we grow.
When we commit ourselves to righteousness, and are quick to repent when sin enters our lives, then we move forward even though we may never achieve absolute holiness and perfection here on earth.”
The two references given for extra study are also very good in portraying different aspects of righteousness. Take the words of Isaiah 45:21b-25; ‘Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked. Before me every knee will bow, by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, “In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength“. All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame. But in the Lord all the descendents of Israel will be found righteous and will exult.’
I think that these verses are telling us that righteousness comes from God – that we need to turn to Him to be saved. It’s also a sign of our love for Him by wanting to pursue righteousness. If you say you love someone then you try to act in a way that demonstrates that love – it is an active desire on our part to undertake activities which express our love. Consequently, in our hearts we need to actively hunger for righteousness because we know that our sin has caused our God to suffer – we demonstrate our love by following Jesus away from our sinful lives towards a time when we will be found righteous. I like the words of John 14:21 ‘Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.’
Likewise, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:9-11; ‘As it is written: “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.’
Generosity demonstrates our love for others and reflects God’s love working in us. Perhaps, certain types of sin arise out of selfishness and greed; therefore to counter this rebellous nature we practice a loving generousity and this is one way to hunger and thirst for righteousness – do you agree?Â
Selwyn’s prayer: “O lord, with all my heart I long to be a righteous person – someone who lives according to the Scriptures. And help me, Lord, never to excuse my sin but always be ready to repent of it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
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