How deep does our righteousness go?
Is it a “kindness” sign in our yard? Or an “everyone is welcome” mat outside our door?
And what happens when someone coming from an opposing ideological viewpoint walks past our yard, or stands on our welcome mat, are they truly viewed “kindly?” Are they sincerely and open-mindedly “welcomed?”
I often chuckle when people with the word “LOVE” on their shirt walk past me without a smile or a “hello.” It's as if the shirt has lobbed its warmth my way, so therefore the person wearing it does not have to!
For Christians who dearly claim Christ, is our equivalent the sending of a Bible verse on a greeting card, announcing “Jesus loves you” on a bumper sticker or quoting Scripture to friends? Do these things check the righteousness box?
Superficiality thrives on the yard placards, apple laptop stickers and flags we plant, adorn and drape around ourselves. But is it only skin deep? Or does it seep into our very blood vessels as it is sourced from the Spirit and pumped from our heart, to our brain, to our soul?
Our spirit is already aware of Christ’s righteousness, because our Spirit is Christ.
But our body, heart, thinking-mind and soul are up for grabs.
The state of each one of those entities can ideally be led by God, but only if we make the choice for him to lead, and decide that we will, indeed, follow.
This is not “blind submission” as many people love to characterize the Christian life. It is discernment of the Spirit in us, knowing that the primary source of “blind submission” is our very own “blind ambition” to follow our pride, which always feels so right—so righteous!
Which brings me back to my point: If we say we love and desire the righteousness of Christ, have we ever sat down to contemplate exactly what that means?
For some, it means they love his righteousness, and thus, adopt an attitude of that righteousness in themselves. They say and believe all the right things. They’ve got the righteousness of Christ clearly in their sights and feel confident in its demarcation, not only for their own life, but the lives of others—even society, otherwise known as “culture.”
What stopped me in my tracks the other day is this: Fruit. What, and where, is the fruit of all of this knowing of Christ’s righteousness?
For all the love we like to throw around on bumper stickers and yard signs, is love the sincere outcome of our mentally buying into Christ’s righteousness?
In other words, do we stand confident in our concept of Christian righteousness while at the same time harbor unforgiveness? Is there a person against we hold a hardened heart? Does our sense of self-righteousness muddy the waters of Christ’s righteousness at those times? Do we confuse the two?
What about political opponents: leaders, neighbors, family members, co-workers, school board members with whom we vehemently disagree? Do we talk disparagingly about them? Do we gossip? Are we sarcastic (thinking we’re witty and funny) about their “stupidity?”
This is what I think of when I read 1 Corinthians 13:1:
“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angles, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”
The main component, I believe, of Christ’s righteousness is grace. Can we, do we, export grace?
Grace does not mean we have to agree. In fact, grace shines even brighter when it occurs between folks who do not agree!
Grace does not constantly look in the rearview mirror, harping about past wrongs and real or imagined slights. Grace gets over stuff and knows a healthy thick skin.
Grace doesn’t take itself too seriously. That is one sure sign of grace!
A sure sign of self-righteousness (lack of grace) is self-seriousness.
That’s because self loves to delude self away from grace. Self loves to nurse old wounds, maintain a long memory and have it all add up to superiority. And when self believes itself to be superior, Jesus is nowhere to be found.
The righteousness of Christ, no matter how well we know it, believe it, and expect it from everyone else, amounts, really, to nothing if we don’t get, finally, to its fruit.
We are to be “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:11).
Notice it does not say we are to be filled just with the righteousness. But we are to be filled with the fruit of that righteousness.
In other words, live it out, don’t just wear it out on a t-shirt, placard, yard flag or coffee mug!
Galatians 5:22-24 sums it up nicely for us:
“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
Jesus sent His spirit to us to live in us, not to be an identity but to be a life lived out under God’s great guidance. The Spirit will never let us down, as many of us who have ever ignored the Spirit’s wise counsel can attest!!
My prayer is to not let my self-righteousness believe itself to be Christ’s righteousness, and that I eliminate mere lip service to genuine Christ righteousness through the actual living of it out—so that it buds, blooms and ultimately bears fruit!
copyright Barb Harwood
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