Being Right, or Being Righteous

September 11, 2015

Being Right, or Being Righteous

Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.

John 15:20

The sin of attachments: how right do you need to be? Or, as Saint Teresa of Avila put it one time, what is my greatest concern in life – being right, or being righteous?

God calls us “to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly” with Him (Micah 6:8). Note that the emphasis is on what we are doing, not what others are doing to us. As Jesus teaches us in John 15, we cannot expect the world to treat us any better than the world treated our Master. Even so, it is not unusual to hear Christians complain that they were mistreated. Too often we are hurt because we feel we have been treated wrongly, and that we don’t deserve to be slighted or misunderstood. Perhaps, as a matter of simple justice, or even simple courtesy, we shouldn’t have been slighted or mistreated. However, when we are so focused on ourselves we are failing to see the bigger picture.

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10a). Our enemy, the great adversary of God, works tirelessly to fulfill his purpose to compromise Jesus’ intended purpose for his followers: “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life” (John 10:10b). Perhaps the one area where our enemy accomplishes his purpose to the greatest degree is in destroying relationships among the followers of Jesus. This is made possible because far too often the followers of Christ fail to grasp that our calling to seek the life in Christ as our way of life encompasses every aspect of our lives. We are seeking to cooperate with Jesus as he lives his life through us, 24/7, in each and every interaction we have. This includes my relationship with my wife and children, my neighbors, and the clerk at the grocery store, as well as how I relate to my Springer Spaniels, Buster Brown and Hershey. Regrettably for me, Buster and Hershey fair better than many others I encounter each day. If I would heed Teresa’s warning more closely, I would be liberated from the tyranny of having to be right!

What is my greatest concern in life – being right, or being righteous?

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.