Let the righteous be righteous
Life is a trade-off. You get to live, but life is not on your terms. Life is filled with terminal cancers, diseases, starvation, and handicaps. People murder, rape, molest, betray, steal, and lie. There is no free pass from heartache, injustice, and discouragement. No matter how well we live, how much we give, or how much evil we expose in the world, we are not exempt from the same pressures as everyone else.
We can fight against injustice. We can stand against tyranny. We can rally for liberty. We can run for positions in an effort to change the course of government. We can sit side by side in a church with someone we know cheats on his wife as well as his taxes. We can worship with people who care more about the comfort of the pew and the temperature in the room than the lost soul sitting next to them. We can have wonderful churches filled with loving people, and we can have churches who abhorrently protest against soldiers at their funerals.
What should we think? How should we react?
“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Revelation 22:11
Let the tares grow up with the wheat. “Let both grow together until the harvest.” Mt.13:30. We may see the heartache, but we cannot lose heart. We can feel the suffering, but grace abounds. We can watch the living die, but love endures. We have a Savior who has overcome the world and all its evil. We, who know Jesus, have an opportunity, to show Him in our lives, in our speech and deeds. How we react to the unjust, the filthy, the vile, reveals the glory of Christ who lives within us. Let the righteous continue to be righteous. In the face of unjust treatment, the filthy and vile actions of others, you remain in the righteousness you have been given through Christ. Be righteous when others are unrighteous. Let your Light shine. In the face of unholy acts, heresy, and blasphemous deeds around you–remain holy, separate, and sanctified. Be holy when others are unholy. Be the salt of the earth.
PRAYER: Lord, we want Your life. Live in us. Reveal yourself to others through us. Let us stay so close to You we see only Your light in the darkness of this world. Let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done.
© Hariette Petersen, SelahV Today, 2010
