My Viewpoint on Righteousness

I have been thinking about this topic for a few days now. After looking through various scriptures in the bible, there is not one scripture that even hints at our having righteousness because we do such amazing things.. As a matter of fact, there is one scripture that says our righteousness is like 'filthy rags.' I also found several scriptures saying that God is our righteousness and that He, because of his righteousness, helps us and guides us in life. Nowhere did I find a scripture saying that we have any amount of righteousness, unless it was granted to us by God.

I wanted to share my viewpoints on this topic because I have witnessed so many people that seem to think they will get into heaven by the good things that they do. Some good examples of this are those that boast about how much money they give in tithes to the church, how they do not smoke or drink, how many times a week they pray, or just those that simply say hurtful things to to or about other people because they think another person is in sin.

It is my belief that God is the only one that is truly righteous. We, as human beings, might boast about all those good deeds that we do, words of encouragement that we give, money that we give to the homeless etc. Yet, in our boasting, we have lost sight of why we might be able to tithe, encourage, pray etc. You see, once we start boasting, we no longer act in any form of righteousness. Perhaps the worst kind of boasting that some people do is gossip, because the reality of gossip is that it is birthed in a false self-righteousness. . When someone boasts, they lose sight of everyone else around them and the validity of the needs of others. How can we, if we are boasting about our good works, genuinely care about another person or genuinely support them? We can't.

We have rightiousness only because of, and through, the spirit of God. We do not earn any points by acting holy in our relationship with God. I believe that those whom are boasting the loudest are in need of the most help. To use someone else's sorrows and turn them into a trophy of our own imagination, is just wrong.

We can't pray hard enough, loud enough, often enough etc., and expect our prayers to get us into heaven. We can't tithe enough, feed the homeless enough, or help our neighbor enough, and expect that to get us into heaven. No matter how many times a week we help someone or how much money we give to those that are poor, whatever it is that we do, we would do well to keep it a secret between us, God, and those we helped. Otherwise, it is simply another form of self-righteousness.

When a person helps a homeless person by giving them a meal, when someone prays for another person that is facing cancer, or when a person gives so much money that the church is able to do something that has been on its wish list for a long time, there is genuinely nothing that we have that further helps to make us righteous or holy. When we help, pray, or assist another person, we should simply keep it between the circle of those involved; otherwise, we are only hurting ourselves. How so? When we have built up ourselves so tremendously in our minds, we have then lost touch with our heart. Jesus lives in our hearts. He doesn't live in our pocket books or our bank accounts. I don't believe that God keeps track of all those good things that we do. If I were to believe differently, then perhaps I am boasting once again.

God is the one that makes us righteous. He alone can help us to walk a life of righteousness. However, we must first stabilize the spiritual condition of our heart. How do we do that? By going to God and letting him give us His righteousness and not attempting to create our own righteousness. God is the only reason that we have anything to boast about. So, why boast? We should do what we feel we need to do and let God reward us for doing so. Don't do something simply out of a boasting or better-than-others attitude.

We are in need of God's righteousness -- not our own.