If there is a theme in the book of Proverbs is the call to love righteousness and everything that it entails. We learn that the righteous loves wisdom, seeks after it; the righteous loves understanding, he goes after it; the righteous loves justice; the righteous loves rebuke for he knows it is good for him; the righteous flees from the adulterous woman – one whose ways are crooked; the righteous loves knowledge; the righteous loves justice and the list goes on (you can read Proverbs 1-11). Further in Proverbs we also learn that the righteous is a blessing to others, so his being alive is beneficial to others and not just to him. I believe, the writer of Proverbs wanted the reader to see how beautiful it is to be righteous and to live righteously as that elevates Christ in that person. As humans, we are people of incentives, we love to know “what’s in it for us” before we take the risk and I believe Proverbs sought to give us that incentive and answer the question of “what’s in it for me” so that we would know very well what we are getting into. I am realizing more and more how well woven together the word of God is. The ideas always align and they join themselves in pointing us to God. As I was reading the book of Ephesians this week, I was struck by the work that Christ did on the cross on our behalf which gave us the status of saints, righteous ones. The righteous shall live by faith indeed which entails obedience and applying the word of God. In today’s post, I want to encourage you to marvel at your new status as a child of God in Christ and to love righteousness.
Paul in Ephesians made a glaring statement when he said: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air…” (Ephesians 2:1). He called us dead before Christ. He revealed our true state as humans who have bought in the belief that all that we see is all there is and therefore care much about what we see – the here and now – but not the afterlife. Being called “dead” means we had no life. We were a no name, a “nobody”, a “persona non grata”, we were non-existent in short. This means, every human on earth is first dead in their sins and transgressions but it is only when they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are given new life in him that they are then alive in him. This truth aligns with what Jesus told his disciples in John 15 to abide in him because apart from him we can do nothing, essentially we have no life (John 15:4-5). Being able to understand ourselves and see ourselves in their true sense means we are humble and it allows us to live with a mindset of “aside from Christ I am nothing”, or “it is only because of Christ that I can do XYZ or that I am XYZ”. This changes our outlook in life and liberates us from the constant desire to appear a certain way to certain people; to please others or to make them love us. Viewed in the proper lenses, our identity shapes us and leads us to lean on God for everything. Instead of trying to be the person with all the answers, we become the person who leans on the One who has all the answers; instead of living in fear of what the other thinks, we simply come as we are portraying Christ. Like Paul, we are able to say when we are among others, that we only want to know one thing that is, Christ crucified. Anything beyond that is not our focus. A true understanding of our state apart from Christ is vital in our walk as Christian if we are to pursue the righteous life we are called to. Prior to Paul making that statement, he began by pointing out in the first chapter the beauty and the spiritual blessings that God lavished upon us in Christ. He displayed the powerful work Christ did on the cross and what that means for us who have been redeemed by his blood. Paul wanted us to see and know how privileged we now are as new creatures; he wanted us to live in the truth of our new identity in Christ so that it shapes everything we do and so we are not being tossed to and fro by every doctrine under the sun. Paul wanted us to be anchored in the truth of what Christ has done for us and of who we now are in him. Therefore, we would be wise to meditate on these truth continually, never taking them for granted. Starting with the fact that in Christ, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing: we are chosen and that before the foundation of the world. This selection has a purpose and it is to be holy and blameless in God’s sight. Moreover, we were predestined to be adopted as sons of the living God. We have been given grace. We have redemption through the blood of Christ, the forgiveness of sin. We have all wisdom and understanding. We now know the mystery of God’s will that is the promise of salvation being extended to non-Jews. Finally, we have the Holy Spirit, “who is the deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession” (see Ephesians 1:3-14). All this is to the praise of the glory of God! This is the new life Christ has granted us through his sacrifice on the cross! Our lives now must be lived to the praise of God’s glory, in total surrender to Him who made all things and knows all things. This truth must be at the forefront of our minds so we never forget where we come from, what we have been delivered of and who we now are and where we are headed. This is essentially what Paul wanted us to not forget in the first two chapters of his letter to the Ephesians. This is the foundation of our walk of righteousness.
Our new identity calls us to a life of righteousness and it is this call to live righteously we see in other books of the bible such as Proverbs. As stated in the introduction, the book of Proverbs acts as a warning and paints the life of the righteous high and depicts the life of the wicked as deadly in the hopes that the reader will choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19). All the blessings and benefits that come with living a life of righteousness really point us to God. After all, He is wisdom, in Him there is understanding, prudence, He is justice, love, kindness, clarity, joy, steadfastness, diligence, hard work, growth, success, rebuke, gentleness, discipline, truth, riches, etc. God is all these things, and we only reflect Him when we choose to live a righteous life. The beauty in that is we are not the only beneficiaries but others around us are as Proverbs says “when the righteous prosper, the city rejoices” (Proverbs 11:10). I love that our lives on this earth is not for us, we live for God and others. We are blessed in Christ to be a blessing to others just as Christ to us. He himself is blessed yet he is a blessing to us and to all who believe in him. We ought to be people who have put pride to the side, people who are constantly killing their flesh so that we can be in the service of the Father to do the good works He has prepared for us before the world began (Ephesians 2:10) to the praise of His glory, not ours but His. I pray you cherish your salvation but I also pray you begin to love righteousness and the things of God. May the eyes of your heart be enlightened in order that you may know the hope which God has called you (Ephesians 1:18) and may you be filled with the knowledge of the will of God through all spiritual wisdom and understanding in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way (Colossians 1:9-10).
A Word Aptly Spoken 