Righteousness is doing the right thing always, in other words having the right response. Now, when it comes to responsibility, we often want to give it all up entirely. Either the devil made me do it, when I do wrong, or, the Lord directed my steps when I do something right. What if, and we must face this on a Monday morning, the wrong thing is laid at the feet of our flesh, the 'old man' Paul wrote about, and requires forgiveness; while the right things we do is the Spirit working the right response from us, the new and reborn person we are in spirit, and requires giving glory to God? Ouch, that's a big 'what if' for so early in the morning.
The Lord does direct my steps, but sometimes I see something I want and jump off the path of righteousness. In other words, I have the wrong response and give in to the desires of the flesh, much like David did when he saw Bathsheba during an idle moment. Later King David went way off the path until Nathan the prophet was called in to help with a returning to the Lord. We don't get to blame anyone or any power for this straying from the path; we are in wrongeousness and we know it. The one way to get back on the path is to confess, repent, and return to the Father like the little prodigal we've been.
So, I get some credit for any right responses? No, not me. I have come far enough down the path the Lord has led me on to realize that there is no righteousness in me alone. Without God, I was far off the path and wallowing in the sin. Any righteousness I saw in myself was one of those castles built on the sand, and it has since fallen hard. The best way to avoid the stain of self-righteousness is to realize that the self has no righteousness in it. That's why we need to be issued a breastplate of righteousness from the Lord's armory!
Have a great week as we look forward to our Lord's return!
Bucky
No comments:
Post a Comment