The Path of Righteousness

Old Testament “righteousness” meant right standing with God.  It was a term of “correctness.”

New Testament “righteousness” means standing right with God.  It is a term of position.

The Path OF Righteousness we will discuss is NOT the Path TO Righteousness… that Path is through Jesus Christ.  The path we will look at is the path we find ourselves on in Christ and it is represented by the diagram below, which we will elaborate on.

When we are on the path of standing right with God, right next to Him… letting Him lead us… we start with an awareness of our sin.  Now before we feel any guilt or condemnation let us remember that sin is failing to honor God.  We know that there are days, moments, even seconds that we fail to honor God with our thoughts or actions. 

And, since we have accepted Christ and have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit, when we fail to honor Him we feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  This conviction is one of chastening, for “all those He loves He rebukes and chastens,” and is meant for us to be guided back to Way. 

When we feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit we can choose to confess our sin.  Once we confess our sin we then will repent of that sin, with repenting meaning to change our minds concerning.  Think of repenting also as changing direction; which would give way to the next natural step of forgiveness.  Forgiveness (see the post “Time Travelers”) is going back to before to the point where you can then go in the right direction, with a renewed mind.

And when we are forgiven we receive a fresh anointing of that same Spirit, which increases our faith.  And here I want you to picture Jesus having come up out of the Jordan and the Holy Spirit descending upon Him in the form of the Dove.  For what happened to Him next is what happens to us all.

After having been anointed He went to the desert and was tested.  Faith is always tested.  When the test was completed, the Father came with provision as He sent the angels to minister to Jesus’ needs.

Once the Father gives you something (provision) He instructs you as to what He wants done with it.  We have the added benefit of the Word of God, which is useful for instruction.  Therefore we ought to always be in the word, seeking that guidance and instruction.

When we have followed the instruction He is good and gracious to reward us according to those deeds.  Following the reward we find ourselves in a position of promotion just as the faithful servant who multiplied the talents was then put in charge of more.

For us to remain on the Path of Righteousness, again it is the path OF not TO, we must under gird everything with OBEDIENCE to the will of the Father, as Jesus was obedient, even unto death.  Only when we give ear to His voice alone, can we expect to hear only His voice.

The Expected End of our path is the purpose for which He created you.  He has a purpose for our lives.  He has work for us in the fields.  He has a plan.

Let the law of the Lord be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path.

SDG