There is value, great value, in living according to God’s
law. Happy are those who avoid unrighteous behavior. The effect of the
righteous life is one's unwavering commitment to God’s word. To be “righteous”
is to have a “healthy relationship” with God, to live wisely.
To live righteously, is to live a decent life, that is
reputable, moralistic, noble, principled, right-minded, and virtuous. To live
righteously, is to live a good life that is virtuous, exemplary, guiltless,
inculpable, innocent, irreproachable, and pure. Righteousness is doing that
which is just, acting rightly or justly; conforming to the standard of the
divine or the moral law; to be just and upright, free from sin. When one lives righteously, one lives a life
without prejudice; characterize by evenness.
I remember. when we did a “hunger weekend” with the youth
group. On Friday night, we went without
supper and spent the night carrying everything we brought with us in large
garbage bags. We moved from place to place in the church and read aloud the
prophets, the psalms, and the gospels. The next morning we went to the local
grocery store and gathered a box of vegetables left by the dumpster. I remember
the turned up noses, the “eeww’s,” the “I’m not eating THAT.” We cleaned and cut
off moldy places and soft parts and put them all in a pot with water to simmer.
That was breakfast.
We went to a soup kitchen in a nearby town to help serve
lunch. The smell of unwashed bodies was offensive. When a mother, in apparent
drug withdrawal, brought her four- or five- year-old son through the food line, one could see the righteous
indignation on the faces of the youth group. We went back to the church
fellowship hall. We compared what we had
seen and felt to the scriptures we had read. We talked about their outraged
sense of justice, decency and fair play, their sense of righteous indignation.
Trusting God in different ways came out of that indignation.
All of them have mentioned that weekend to us at one time or another. For
some, it helped God call them into
ministry as pastors and social workers, but for all, it changed the way they
viewed others.
Every day is an
opportunity to trust God in different ways. In the midst of daily life,one can
increase trust in God, confidently and
faithfully, knowing one's life is enfolded in God’s attention and love.
God is a God of power, wisdom and authority, John Wesley saw
over an over the spirit of bondage transformed to the spirit of adoption as we
awaken to our sin. God does not force conversion on us. We must seek adoption.
However it is only God who can complete the transformation.
It is God who, hearing one's cries and caring for all like a
good parent, now infuses life with “heavenly healing light.” Hearts are
strangely warmed, so one's consciousness is dominated no longer by sin and law,
but by God’s capacity to love, heal and make new.
We have the experience of most adopted children: once we
feel abandoned to the powers and principalities, but now we can count on the
kindness and support of a loving parent. Once we were bound to fear, but now we
are marked with the holiness and happiness of the family of God
The “good news” is the proclamation of God’s kingdom,
manifested in the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. “Repentance” is
not just a feeling of regret, but an ordering of one’s life as to be acceptable
to God. Jesus himself receives baptism by John, joining this group of people
who have ritually dedicated themselves to righteousness; to true religion.
We must not substitute rituals for Christ-centered faith.
Instead, we should enter into a life of
rigorous discipline of study prayer and good works. True religion is a matter
of the heart and is characterized by Spirit-inspired joy, holiness, and peace.
To John Wesley, these were the irrefutable marks of the kingdom of God.
I encourage you to choose a short passage of scripture that
stops or strangely warms your heart. Meditate on those words. Write them on a
card and keep them with you. Write them,
with soap, on your mirror. To meditate on God’s word literally means to mumble
or utter it under the breath.
Romanian Orthodox Chant - Psalm 1,2,3 at Putna Monastery
www.sfantulioanrusul.ro Psalm 1,2,3 at Putna Monastery, Romania
God's Righteous Servant. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.defendproclaimthefaith.org/gods_righteous_servant.htm
"An outline of a
Bible-school curriculum". (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.archive.org/stream/outlineofbiblesc00peas/outlineofbiblesc00peas_djvu.txt
Reflecting on Our Faith - UMC.org,
http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.2310045/k.4A66/Reflecting_on_Our_Faith.htm
(accessed January 14, 2013
Kim Hill - Psalm 1 Uploaded on Apr 30, 2007 Call to worship based on Psalm 1 Visit us at www.phillycgc.org
“righteous.” equitable." Webster's
Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com
(14 Jan. 2013).
Monday, January 14, 2013
Psalm 1, 2, 3, 4, 7
Isaiah 40:12-23
Ephesians 1:1-14
Mark 1:1-13
Daily Readings from The Voice, the internet
web site of CRI/Voice, Christian Resource Institute, a global and ecumenical
ministry dedicated to providing biblical and theological resources for growing
Christians. www.crivoice.org Readings
based on the Revised Lectionary of the Book
of Common Prayer.
The Wesley Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2009.
