Of Righteousness

Tuesday 6 February 2024

When Most of Life is Like

a Tumbled

Jumble

of Upturned Roots,

Where is Righteousness?

Exodus 19:6

… but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.

2 Timothy 4:8

From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

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Words of Grace For Today

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If only …

If only longing for something would make it so …

If only longing for something would make it so, the world would experience more chaos than even now.

But if God longs for something, then … well then it is going to happen, well maybe. And if we long for what God longs for then it will surely happen, or?

Then comes into play human freewill that makes love possible, and what God longs for most is that we freely choose to love, which means God does not make it happen, but waits for us to choose love, which can take a long time, too often more time than we have.

And God’s longing in not fulfilled.

Then we can long to love, but not choose it, and we are disappointed that God does not make it happen, forgetting that freewill is an essential part of love.

So we long for the Christ to appear, and that alone does not give us righteousness. Nor does our choosing to love God, our neighbour, ourselves, and even our enemies. Us receiving the crown of righteousness is wholly a gift.

Wholly and only a gift given to us.

Wholly and only a gift from God.

Wholly and only a gift given to us though we do not deserve it.

And that is something to celebrate, for the Christ is already arrived and here with us each day, and the crown that we do not deserve is ours,

though it weighs heavily on our heads

for with it comes the responsibility (response ability) to love

without condition or hesitation

all people and all of creation.

Just a little work for us each day, eh?