Righteous Actions

Have you ever had one of those days when everything around you looks bleak?

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look around and take note! Search its squares and see if you can find one person who acts justly and seeks truth— so that I may pardon Jerusalem. Although they say, "As the Lord lives," yet they swear falsely. O Lord, do your eyes not look for truth? You have struck them, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to turn back. Then I said, "These are only the poor, they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord , the law of their God. Let me go to the rich and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord , the law of their God." But they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds. Therefore a lion from the forest shall kill them, a wolf from the desert shall destroy them. A leopard is watching against their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces— because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great. How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of prostitutes. They were well-fed lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife. Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord ; and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this? - Jeremiah 5:1-9

We may find that we have a hard time finding examples of righteous actions in the world around us.

When we hear the term righteousness, we might almost turn off completely, seeing righteous actions as something done by those who seek glory.

Let me show you how great I am!

But that is not what God seeks from us.  He wants us to live our lives as honestly and truthfully as possible.

If your child is straying from the life you hope for him or her, wouldn't you want to intercede?  

God is the same way with us.  He wants us to see the Big Picture and know that it is not about us alone.  It is about all of us together.

We tend to forget that.  We see the world through our own eyes and so that puts us in the center.  The world is all around us, and we are the most important part of our universe.

But even if we are, and God wants us to know we are in His eyes, we don't have to act like we are deserving of anything great.

Instead, we should be eager to share.

So, today, I will try to performs acts of righteous behavior that do not make me look or feel self-righteous.

I'll let you know how that goes.

More to come...