Righteous

God has a sense of humor. Not, my sense mind you... I have a part-time night job lined up doing computer operations. Just what I left when I went into "full-time ministry". Not all that thrilled about it, but I need to do something to make ends meet around here.

We are opening up for our friend Blue and her band Morning Vision tonight. If you are in the St. Louis area come on out!

I have been reading Wayne Jacobsen's "The Naked Church" for awhile now. I'm taking my time because I realize there are still some presuppositions about this journey that I need to unlearn. I've been particularly challenged by the concept of righteousness. I've always been under the assumptions that righteousness was something that I could attain with effort. God gives grace to get into to heaven, but I had to take care of things while I'm here on earth. Unfortunately, I am an absolute failure at maintaining righteousness. My failures either led to disappointment or anger with myself, because of my weakness, or with God, because he didn't give me the strength to resist the sin.

James 1:14-15 tells us that sin consists of two things: desire and opportunity. Unfortunately, I have been taught one of the many traps of dealing with sin. There are several ways that Christians deal with sin:

1. Bear the consequences of it, because salvation can't heal us from it.
2. Conquer it by sheer force of will.
3. Deny ourselves ANY sinful opportunity (become isolated from society and legalistic).
4. Allow Jesus to deal with our self-centered desires.

The first three deal with the opportunity, only the last deals with the core issue, our desires.

Wayne points out, and I think rightly so, that most followers of Jesus don't hunger for holiness today because they have misunderstood the process that brings it to them. We think holiness comes through gritted teeth. But, if righteousness comes as I learn to trust in God above my self-centered desires, then righteousness is a product my relationship with God, changing me from the inside out. It really has very little to do with me. As I trust in Jesus he changes me from the inside out, replacing MY desires with HIS.

So the basis of my righteousness is relationship. It is a gift from the Father, not something I can earn. Sin is a relationship breaker. It's not that it removes me from God's presence, it's that it keeps me from the deep, inner change that God desires as the result of trusting in my own desires over and above my Father's.

Trust, and live a righteous life...