Living the Right Life is Wrong

Are you tired today? Are you worn out?  Possibly it is the consuming habits of being right and being correct. I face these lies every day in a world where information is easily accessible and the glamourous lives of our peers is displayed in front of us.  We desire to be the standing point of reference. We want to be right. We want to be wise. We want to be noticed for our knowledge and our correct stance.  

Tonight I heard a sermon that discussed the difference between living a life of rightness and righteousness. Suddenly, I began to see significant parts of my life that I had been living to follow the "right" path instead of a righteous one.  A life of rightness is one governed by a series of works that equate to what we believe is a salvation-worthy life, while a life of righteousness is the humble submission to the will of God for the Glory of God.  

God made Him Who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:21

I started thinking more about this though and the depth at which we believe a life of rightness is a commandment of God.  We all desire to be right. We desire to have the correct political opinions, and we share them on social media. We all desire to be right in our theology, and swiftly correct those that are liberal or those that are too fundamental. We find joy in the argument and find passion in fueling a fire that only leave both parties more distraught and discouraged that we were in the first place. 

I am going to use a phrase often spoken in Sunday School all the way through adulthood... "We are on the same team." But, you know what is crazy? If we call ourselves follower of Jesus, we literally have submitted ourselves to the commandments of ONE truth and ONE calling. Although interpretations may differ and the ways in which our Heavenly Father reveals himself to us is different for every individual, at the end of the day, we exist to make Him famous.   

God formed, sent, and sacrificed his Son not so that we would correctly follow Him. He didn't send his son so that we would follow him in the most radical way. He didn't send his Son so that we would find the solution, the answer, or the RIGHT way to be a follower!  He sent His son as the redemption for our sin and the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  He sent His Son so that we have the ability to Follow! Period. That's it.  

Let us stop searching for the manner that is most obedient. Let us simply be obedient. Let us stop searching on how to be a rightful follower suited for the King. Let us submit, and follow. 

Jeremiah 9:23-24 

²³ This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, ²⁴ but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.

Being right is our feeble human attempt at making ourselves more clean and worthy to be presented to our God. Let us not waste time toiling in useless works. Only His Son can cleanse us.  Let us instead understand who our God is. Let us search Him. Let us know Him and His commandments. Let us exercise the kindness and justice for His people and His creation. It is in these fundamental acts that we transition from the pursuit of earthly rightness to heavenly righteousness.   

Investigate

God is looking for imperfect men and women who have learned to walk in moment-by-moment dependence on the Holy Spirit. Christians who have come to terms with their inadequacies, fears, and failures. Believers who have become discontent with ‘surviving’ and have taken the time to investigate everything God has to offer in this life.- 

Charles Stanley

Life is an investigation- investigating who we are, who we want to be, who the successful people are (and what makes them that way), as well as discovering the reason we are on this earth.  

Whenever someone asks me what a passion of mine is, I often respond, "Theology". I love the study of why people believe what they believe and why they believe it. I love the investigation. I love the soul searching. It is SO human, and so real. It reveals our doubts, our concerns and our dreams. 

Our Heavenly Father desires that we investigate him. Dare I say, He wants you to sit down and attempt to critique him, analyze him, and find fault in his perfection. We are human-we want answers! We hope to investigate once we have come up with a hypothesis of why God is. 

When we proclaim that God is good, we search for his goodness. When we hear a friend say God is gracious, we search for evidence of grace. 

God desires an investigation. 

Why? Because he is faultless, perfect, constant, and THE answer. 

The solution to our problem is why we investigate- Our God desires to be investigated. He wants to be our solution. 

When we hear something about our God, let us take time to pray on those truths, and see if He in fact adds up to the world's proclamations. Often the world will lead us astray through their "feelings", instead of the facts of who God is. Or, we may encounter an outlier who is not in touch with the reality of our God. But, once we take in the world, and lay that against the truth of the scripture (our avenue for discovering the true and perfect God) we can discern what is false AND-(this is the greatest part)- we come to know the Lord better through the investigation.   

Here is an Abrahamic Promise for us that will sustain us in our searching. In Deuteronomy, we see a declaration by Moses, through the Lord. 

"But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all of your heart and all of your soul."- Deut. 4:29 

And this will all occur, because we serve a merciful God who will never forget "the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them". And, a jealous God who "is a consuming fire" ready to protect you because He desires YOU and investigates and pursues YOU daily! 

I find it pretty amazing that the God that we pursue is perfect- and it is difficult for us to find the motivation to continue pursuing Him.  Yet, we are so far from perfect- and our God investigates our hearts, searches them, and loves us unconditionally even through the obvious imperfection.   

Let us promise to investigate our God and search the heart of the Lord. We will continually be renewed, finding perfected goodness and holiness!  

Psalm 139:23- "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!"