Now there are two aspects of righteousness - being righteous in man's eyes and being righteous in GOD's eyes.
Man's eyes
To be righteous in man's eyes means to follow the rules of the world and to obey them. This doesn't mean conforming to the world's standards. Why should we respect these rules of the world? It's because we do live in this world and so therefore we must abide, to an extent, to the rules of the world.
"Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and GOD what is GOD's." -Mark 12:17
As long as we still live on this world, we must ACT within the boundaries of the rules set before us. With this is in mind, we give to the world what belongs to the world.
""I have the right to do anything," you say - but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything" - but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others." -1 Corinthians 10: 23-24
GOD's eyes
GOD sees what nobody else sees. He sees your thoughts and your heart. There are many things that the world 'permits' us to do but these things are not of GOD. At times, these things are part of our fallen nature. As GOD also sees our hearts, He knows the sins that go on inside that we don't act upon. He knows it when we covet and He knows it when we think lustfully. No one can hide from GOD.
"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" -Matthew 5:28
"The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." -1 Samuel 16:7
All the ugliness that is hidden inside is worse that the ugliness outside 'cause it's so easy to hide. It's so easy to hide underneath masks and to just sweep all the dirt under the rug. But all of this is still evident to GOD 'cause He searches the very deepest recesses of our hearts and He knows it better than we do.
To be just and obey GOD's laws
To be just is to be fair and moral in society. We're called to be fair and moral but there's more to justice than just this. To be just is to stand up for the oppressed, to love the unloved, to feed the hungry, to cry with those who are broken and to hold those who are weary. The widows, the orphans, the lonely and the poor. I'm not the best off financially nor in terms of love but I'm much better than others. To see the injustices and not do anything about them would be creating an even greater injustice.
"Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow." -Isaiah 1:17
GOD's laws are simple. There may seem like there are very many of them and I do agree that the Bible lists very many. The only way to keep from breaking these laws are to keep them in our hearts.
"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you" -Psalm 119:11
It's good to hide all of GOD's word but when not all of it is hidden, the best principle to live by is to obey the first and second greatest commandments. Love the LORD your GOD with all your heart, soul and mind. THEN, love your neighbour as yourself. When one's in love with GOD and running full tilt towards Him, sin is no longer an option as one's heart will be SO overtaken with love for Him and there will be nothing else that one would desire.
No comments:
Post a Comment