The Lord is Righteous

The Lord is Righteous

(“For the Lord is righteous; He loves righteous deeds. The upright will see His face.” Psalm 11:7)

“Righteousness” is not a word we use very often in everyday language. Even as followers of Jesus we may have a vague notion of righteousness. We know it has something to do with being good, and being fair. Because it is heard more often in religious conversation than informal talk, it can take on an other-wordly sense, and we think little about what it means in 21^st century day to day life.

We know God is holy; there is no other like Him. We know He is true; there is not the slightest hint of deception in His being. Holiness is God’s inner character of unvarnished goodness. He always is good, always is true, always is totally “other” than all the rest of creation. There is not a spot of blemish in His holiness.

We can think of God’s righteousness as the way God deals with mankind. Because He is holy, we can expect his actions to also be good and true; or “righteous.” In the Old Testament Pharaoh hardened his heart by refusing to let the Hebrew children leave Egypt when God had instructed him to do so. After the Lord sends a series of plagues, Pharaoh says to Moses and Aaron, “I have sinned this time. Yahweh is the Righteous One, and I and my people are the guilty ones.” (Exodus 9:27). Even the hard hearted ruler had to admit that the Lord is righteous.

For those who follow Jesus, God’s righteousness is a great source of comfort, and a motivation for courage. We know that God is able to do anything; He is “omnipotent.” If that is all we knew of Him, we would live in constant uncertainty about how God acts in the world. We would wonder, “Does God capriciously raise up one nation and demolish another? Does He play with our lives like little dolls?” But, knowing He is righteous, we know that all His actions are good and right.

We timidly wonder how a God of righteousness will treat us who constantly stub our toes on our own inclinations to act out of self-interest rather than righteousness. Romans 3:10 even tells us that there is no one who is righteous, “no not one!” (Can I insert, dear reader, that we must all start with this attitude. Leave aside putting down others who we disagree with, or who we think are less than righteous. We are in the same leaky boat ourselves.)

But, Romans 3:21,22 give us hope: “…God’s righteousness has been revealed…that is, God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe, since there is no distinction.” As we actively trust Jesus Christ, we are considered righteous by God. This is not a token prayer so we get a hand stamp to walk in and out of the kingdom as we desire. It is the faith that transforms our very lives. We start on a road that looks less like self-promotion and more like the love and compassion of Christ.

I believe we need to think carefully about how we act out our new righteous lives. We do not see Jesus settling many disputes or negotiating conflicts .But we do see him cultivating inward harmony through acts of love: washing the feet of men he knew would betray him, honoring the sinful woman whom society had scorned. My heart breaks over followers of Jesus who use belittling language when trying to stand up for what they hope are righteous issues. Let us be righteous while we try to bring righteousness to bear. Even if we truly think Jesus has a particular opinion on gun control, for instance, do we really think He would call people stupid who disagree?

Jesus method of confronting evil was to shine His righteousness upon the scene. So, a woman caught in adultery does not hear a sermon on the horrors of adultery, instead, she sees Jesus stand between her and the men about to kill her mercilessly by stoning. Jesus, in no way, supports adultery, but He accomplished something so much greater by acting out the righteousness of Heaven.

I hope we can learn to do the same. Because, as we do, we, “the upright” will see His face. As we gaze upon the compassionate, merciful, forgiving Christ, our angry and judgmental conduct is transformed into the very same likeness we perceive in Him. Let us stand true, but only in the character of our Righteous Jesus.