BLESSINGS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS

“BLESSINGS are on the head of the RIGHTEOUS, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked” – Proverbs 10:6

The Blessed Person is righteous (Psa.112: 4b). The Way of RIGHTEOUSNESS is the Way of BLESSINGS! God targets special Blessings for the Righteous: “BLESSINGS are on the head of the RIGHTEOUS, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked” (Pro.10:22). This implies that righteousness attracts blessings, whereas wickedness invites violence. As God is righteous in all His dealings with humanity and all of creation, so also the person God blesses is “righteous” in all of his or her transactions with fellow human beings. To be righteous in our dealings with others is to sincerely demonstrate moral excellence in character and conduct, in the way we live our daily lives. This cannot be done outside of a genuine relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ, who is our “Righteousness” (1Cor.1:30).

In Matthew 6:33, the Lord Jesus underlined the primacy of righteousness: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Again, He specifically commended hungering and thirsting after righteousness: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” and “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt.5:6,10). Jesus chose His words carefully. Hunger and thirst are powerful physical impulses. They drive us to attain that which is necessary for our survival, namely, food and drink. The Lord wants us to understand that righteousness is likewise necessary for our ultimate survival. Without the passionate pursuit of righteousness before God, we cannot hope to inherit eternal life. But when we pursue it rightly, Jesus tells us that we will be satisfied.

There are two definite results of hunger and thirst for righteousness. First, in striving after righteousness, we see how far short of the mark we fall and admit our inability to be pleasing in God’s sight. We then repent and rest in Christ’s perfect righteousness alone for salvation: “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” (Gal.2:16). God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2Cor.5:21). The righteousness of Christ imputed upon us who believe is our ticket to “the blessing of Abraham” (Gal.3:14a). Yet having been justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, we are also given the desire to follow God’s law. With our new love for Jesus, we begin to follow His commandments and walk righteously: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (Jh.14:15).

The life of Jesus in His earth-walk illustrates the kind of passion for righteousness that all of God’s people are to pursue. He said that His food was “to do the will of” God (Jh.4:34). For Christ, His very survival depended on obeying His Father. The same should be true for us. Our temporal survival and eternal salvation is dependent on obeying Jesus’ command to repent and believe the gospel; and we live out this command by repenting and believing the gospel all the days of our lives. For the Church as the Body of Christ, the rain of righteousness precedes showers of blessings: “I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing” (Eze.34:26). Sowing righteousness provokes the release of divine rains: “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till He comes and rains righteousness on you” (Hos.10:12).

Righteousness and Blessings are inseparable: “He shall receive BLESSING from the LORD, and RIGHTEOUSNESS from the God of his salvation” (Psa.24:5). “Righteousness delivers from death” as well as from penury (v.2a-3). “The labor of the righteous leads to life” (v.16a). These are few of the innumerable blessings of righteousness.