Righteousness

Is righteousness a good thing or a bad thing?

Job again took up his discourse and said: "As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, as long as my breath is in me and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit. Far be it from me to say that you are right; until I die I will not put away my integrity from me. I hold fast my righteousness, and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days. - Job 27:1-6

Job declares that he will hold fast to his righteousness, and in this context, we understand that to mean he will not diminish himself by giving in.

Is that bad?

One could argue that it is his pride talking, but I don't think that is such a bad thing in this case.

Shouldn't we take pride in our relationship with God?  His friends want him to acknowledge that God is so superior to humans, we can have no real relationship with Him, but Job won't stoop so low as to agree. 

We shouldn't either.

When we do that, we give up hope.  We tell ourselves that God is not interested in us.  And what good can come of that?

Without God's love for us, how could we possibly love one another?  It is God's love that we emulate, God's compassion that we try to put into practice in our lives.

So, Job's response to his friend is his commitment to God and himself.  I will not declare what I believe to be false.  I will not let go of my belief.

We should all have that type of commitment to God and ourselves.  If we do not, what else is worth committing to, and how committed could we be?

More to come...