Righteousness

For the last few days, I've camped out of a verse that Pastor Curtis shared in his message last Sunday: Proverbs 21:3--to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. So just what is righteousness and why is it so important to God?

The definition of righteous is acting in an upright, moral way; virtuous (Dictionary.com). The definition context is the behavior represents a godly person. Righteousness and the character of God are inseparable. Righteousness is behaving in a godly manner, thinking godly thoughts, taking godly actions and responding to others in a godly way. Our first Men's Night worship event at Ogletown centered around 2 Timothy 2:22: so flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Righteousness isn't listed first here by accident. 2 Peter 3:13 reminds us that the new heavens and new earth will be where righteousness dwells.

At the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus promised that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled (Matthew 5:6) and those who are persecuted for righteousness sake will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven (5:10). The armor of God that we're called to put on includes the breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians 6:14); the protection for our heart that we desperately need. Our Savior himself who knew no sin became sin for us so that by claiming his sacrifice we become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Psalm 33:5 reminds us that God loves righteousness and justice. What more reason do we need to pursue it wholeheartedly?