It Starts Small

Pursuing righteousness leads to righteousness and more!

King Solomon speaks the entire 21st chapter of Proverbs with wise statements. His early comments in this passage are remarks about God’s perfect knowledge of our innermost thoughts. Just merely “doing” right is not enough to please God. God knows if we act in arrogance or humility or if pious actions are motivated by worship or selfishness. The first 16 verses warn against the consequences of sin and wickedness.

The second part of this chapter speaks about rejecting godliness. Solomon speaks that living according to wisdom does not make a person invincible, but it greatly increases one’s success. It is in this section we our scripture for today.

He says pursue righteousness and faithful love…

Other versions say pursue righteousness and loyalty.

The two Hebrew Words used here are ṣᵊḏāqâ and means justice, righteousness and ḥeseḏ which means goodness, kindness, faithfulness. Solomon says pursue righteousness and goodness, kindness, and faithful and you will receive. What will we receive?

The various translations have differing words they use:

NIV: life, prosperity, honor
KJV: life, righteousness, and honor
CSB: life, righteousness, and honor

The Hebrew translations gives these three words and meanings:

ḥay: life

ṣᵊḏāqâ: righteousness

kāḇôḏ: honour, reputation

Seems like a really good exchange to me? Pursue righteousness and you will find life, righteousness and honor. God promises you pursue my righteousness, you will find life, righteousness and honor.

This brings us to a pause in our morning: What things have you put your heart into pursuing?

I know this might seem like a repetitive theme, but let us be honest with ourselves. Have our pursuits led us away from pursuing the righteousness of God? Are we pursuing a relationship, money, fame, fortune, things more than we are God and His righteousness?

It happens to the best of us. We aim at being able to provide and then we get what we need but we desire more so we work harder and before too long we are reading our Bibles less, praying less, and seeking the Lord less. That desire to just do good, turned into a an ungodly pursuit. I am guilty of this. I have been working at creating a day every two weeks where I sit down with Jesus and evaluate my heart. What am I doing? What am I doing it for or for whom am I doing things for? I can start to see my left leg has gotten a bit short and I am veering off God’s path.

Lets make today a day of recommitting our pursuits to the Lord.

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