Measure of Righteousness

I was reminded of something very beautiful last night that is still on my mind this morning. God doesn't measure our righteousness the same way we humans do. We humans tend to look at righteousness as something expressed through zealous "Christian" deeds. (See Scot McKnight's recent writing for an interesting look at zealots.) We think that a righteous pastor can build a church from 50 to 500. We think that a righteous student is the one who abstains from drugs, sex, and alcohol. We think someone is righteous if they'll talk about Jesus to people with whom we wouldn't even talk. We think someone is righteous if they take mission trips and all the rest. Maybe these people are righteous, but we're not looking at righteousness as God does.

Remember Abraham. Hebrews 11 looks back at Abraham's life, saying that God credited Abraham's faith to him as righteousness. God didn't look at the pagan gods that surrounded Abraham. He didn't look at the fact that he lied to the Egyptians twice about Sarah being his wife. He didn't look at the fact that Abraham tried to rush God's promise of a son by having sex with Hagar. No, God looked at Abraham's faith. Abraham missed the proverbial mark a few times, but at the end of the day it was his faith that God saw. Because Abraham had a pure, real faith, God called him righteous.

What brought all this on? My brother. He tried to track me down a few days ago, so I called him last night. We spent over two hours on the phone talking about some unique things he's experiencing right now. 1) He's discontent with his education degree and thinks he will never use it. He says there's something more. 2) He's been thinking weekly of enrolling in seminary. 3) He is having some troubling dreams that leave him afraid and angry. To me it sounds as though God is drawing my brother to himself, that he is experiencing the still small voice of the Holy Spirit (on one side) and dealing with the spirit of fear (on the other side). We talked about this for awhile when he asked, "How? I'm in a spiritually crippled position. You know what I like to do." Suddenly my mind rushed to Abraham, someone whose righteousness has intrigued me in the past few weeks. I told my brother about what I thought and said that God looks for the same thing in us: faith.

When we have faith, we'll be drawn to a true encounter with the Lord. We'll see Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all at once. In that encounter our faith will increase, and all the while God is crediting our faith as righteousness. Righteous living is going to flow out of faith, not the other way around. Righteous living without real faith is hypocrisy. At best, it's zealotry (going "big guns" in the name of the Lord under our own pretenses of who He is and what He wants, but without really involving Him at all). Whether big or small, bright or dim, my brother has a grain of faith in Christ that the Lord is stirring right now. He was right when he said he's at a crossroads right now. The Lord is looking him in the eye, even though He can't be seen. My brother has the option of diving into the "unknown God" headfirst or sticking with the shallow waters of the known "gods." After our conversation, a very long prayer time, and sharing of some visions, I'm pulling for the first. What about us? Many of us are being stirred uniquely right now. Are we being stirred? Is our measure of righteousness driven by our faith, or are we building up righteous deeds that are hollow and empty of faith? Is our judgment of others based on faith or outward zeal?

One last thing for those who are thinking, "That's great that he has faith, but what about the junk in his life?" 1) You don't know him. 2) Even if you did, you'd realize that judging him for his junk isn't what the Lord is doing. 3) Like I said above, the Lord will start with faith and draw us to Him from there. Once we encounter Him, the Lord will make us who He wants us to be. (Now pray that I remember that the next time I don't understand why he's choosing to do something.)