Loving what is right . . .

Watching or reading mysteries usually gives me pleasure because justice is done in the end. Yet lately, the crimes committed are beginning to bother me so much that the good feeling of seeing the criminals caught and stopped isn’t satisfying. I don’t want to read or watch some of those fiction stories as much. I’ve stopped watching most of the news also. While keeping up with what is going on fuels my prayers, it also stresses my heart.

Today’s devotional is about Jesus being a lover of righteousness. It begins with these verses:

But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” (Hebrews 1:8–9)

Righteousness is not a concept common in real life, never mind how much fiction writers can make it happen. This morning’s newspaper featured several events that made my stomach churn. One of them was the death of a person being arrested by several policemen who seemed to be abusive. Another is the violence in Gaza and Israel. Another is reports of shady dealings involved elected government officials.

While the Bible tells Christians to pray for people in leadership, this becomes increasingly difficult when corruption happens and what the Bible calls good is ridiculed by those who choose what God forbids as being the best way to live.

The devotional writer says that the King of kings, Jesus Christ, is the only leader who has a perfectly right attitude toward righteousness. I cannot help but think, “And look what happened to Him” as the leaders in His day crucified Him — and as God planned His death so that sinners like me could live. The righteousness of Christ, the sinless One, was not rewarded, at least not then. Everyone, including His disciples, turned away as He died.

Yet He rose from the dead and now rules from an eternal throne as God and King. His story is not a plot found in fiction. It has elements of the most amazing mystery of all: the sinless One took the penalty for those who are guilty that we might be forgiven and be transformed to be like Him and live forever.

Jesus lived a righteous life and loves righteousness. Yet His story tells me that righteousness is not just about how I should live, but suggests a sacrifice, even a death, that others might live. This morning I read:

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24)

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14)

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (Romans 6:6)

The protagonist in fiction might give time, energy, and resources to find the culprit and bring justice to the crime, yet that detective or whoever it is does not give their life to make it happen. True righteousness is living in faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. This goes beyond making the world a better place to live. It could lead to persecution and death in a physical sense, but certainly means a death to all that my old life may have desired. This is not a movie or a novel but a reality: those who want to live a righteous life must first belong to Jesus and die to self.

That means saying NO to much more than the sin most people consider the biggies. Instead, it means saying NO to self, and recognizing that righteousness is hearing and obeying Jesus, even saying “Not my will but thine be done” — which is the example He sets for what it means to love righteousness.

This also means hating lawlessness and all that is wrong. This is a black and white concept:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. (1 John 2:15–16)

PRAY: Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23–24)

PONDER: Psalm 119 and ask if I can say the same things as the psalmist about loving the law and the righteousness of God.