Right and Wrong

So I sat on the porch this morning, sipping tea, thinking about the difference between seeking righteousness and being righteous (in right standing). Jesus taught that we find right standing through Him. And a characteristic of that is seeking righteousness.

What does it mean to seek righteousness? That sounds too churchy. But I don't have any better phrasing. It means thinking about everything you do and say in terms of right and wrong. Yes, black and white. And life isn't so neat, is it?

I'm not talking about legalism, where the rules make you right or wrong. God makes you right or wrong. He decides. Therefore, determining right and wrong means talking to Him. I'll tell you, I'm very good at rationalizing. And when right or wrong depends on me, well, it's hard to tell. Even doing something good can be selfish.

Seeking righteousness comes down to asking God what He thinks. Ironic, doing the right thing falls back on building a relationship. And that brings me back to Jesus being the one way of finding righteousness. No matter how much I seek, I need that relationship to be right, to even understand what right means. And Jesus makes that relationship possible.

I do wrong, way more than I want to admit. I need the forgiveness Jesus made possible in order to try and do what's right next time. Because doing right is what builds the relationship I need in order to know what's right. It's this ever growing spiral where each part pushes along the next which circles back for another cycle. Building on and on.

Where does it end? It doesn't. This is God's forever.