The Apostle Paul also made it clear that we are
not to strive about words to no profit,
to the ruin of the hearers (2 Tim. 2:14; cf. Titus 3:9). Today’s passage is helpful in this because it
tells us what helps and what doesn’t.
To begin with, there is a perspective in v3
that shows the value of thinking correctly.
Integrity refers to consistency of life, singleness of mind.
It is contrasted with perversity which has to do with being
crooked or distorted. Job, a man of
integrity (Job 2:3), prayed a great prayer: Let
me be weighed on honest scales that God may know my integrity (Job
31:6). Do not minimize the need to think
properly, to have our minds renewed (Rom. 12:2).
With
that in mind, what follows are three very simple truths about life, about what
helps. While these may seem obvious let
us not overlook them and the application of these truths in our lives today!
·
In the day of wrath, the day when we stand
before the Judge of all the earth, our money will be useless but righteousness
will deliver us. You can’t take it with you.
That is self-evident despite the ridiculous practices in religions over
the centuries to bury necessary things for the after-life along with the
dead. That was the point of the pyramids
of Egypt, to pack all the stuff the king would need in the after-life. It’s silly to think about. The stuff is still there centuries later if
it wasn’t stolen by intelligent people who knew it was still there. But wait!
There is something you take with you.
The righteousness of Christ can be yours, a righteousness that will
stand you in confidence before God. God
Himself made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we
might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). He bore our sins (unrighteousness) on the
cross (1 Peter 2:24) so that it might be removed. And all who believe in Him, His righteousness
is put to their account (Rom. 4:5). His
righteousness delivers us in the day of wrath (1 Thess. 1:10).
·
Along the way in our lives, wickedness will
cause us to fall but righteousness will make our way smooth (that’s the literal
translation of direct his way aright). You want to be stumbling through life? That’s what happens if the righteousness of
Christ that gives you a good standing before God does not become more and more
characteristic of your daily walk. It’s
interesting. The path of a Christian is
said to be crooked, difficult, and not the way most people take (Matt.
7:14). And yet, when we walk in Christ’s
righteousness our way is made smooth.
That is helpful!
·
When we experience trials in life, and we all do
and will until we die, our lust for a life of ease (i.e. not walking faithfully
in Christ’s righteousness but trying to get out of trouble by taking the path
of wickedness that we think is the easy way out) will land us in a trap of some
sort. But to continue in righteousness
will be for our deliverance. And that is
also helpful to know!
Are you talking about, thinking about, and
living out what is truly helpful?
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