Righteousness

A reflection on the Daily Lectionary readings for March 3. Please see the Daily page for tools to help you make daily prayer and scripture part of your rhythm.

What is righteousness anyway?  Well, if you ask Google you get, “the moral, ethical, and spiritual state of being in right standing with God, often defined as acting in accordance with divine law, justice, and integrity.  It is characterized by holiness, humility, and fairness.  It is achieved not merely by works, but often through faith, divine grace, or spiritual adherence.”  And with all AI summaries-of-the-internet information, I think some of this is spot on and some doesn’t quite align with my theology (even though I know it aligns with the way many think of righteousness).  

What I think is contradicted by scripture is the idea stated with ‘not merely by works, but often through faith, divine grace, or spiritual adherence.”  If I were writing this definition I would say “not by works but …”.  And this is confirmed in the story of God choosing Abraham that Paul references in the letter to the Romans we read today.  Righteousness isn’t something we earn, it is something God sees deep in us, in that place where God’s very image is, the very core of our identity.  Abraham lived outwardly from that place inside himself and it is God who determined Abraham’s righteousness, not any other human or even Abraham himself.  

Righteousness is the faith from which we know that living the way God tells us to live is our purpose.  All of God’s commands and instruction are to help us learn to love better each day.  Abraham didn’t always get it right.  Neither to any of us.  God knows this.  God never commands that we be perfect, only that we be willing to admit and accept when we don’t get it right.  And when we acknowledge when we mess up, God is always waiting to welcome us back.  Our goal as God’s Beloved isn’t to prove how good we are but to do our best with God’s help to grow more into who God made us to be each day.  

Keep lovin’ louder than the hate, Y’all!