The Self-Righteous........Right?

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." (Matt. 5:6 NIV)

So what Jesus was saying was those who are self-righteous will be satisfied? Let's define righteousness, or the adjective righteous, real quick before we get ourselves in trouble. The great Webster's dictionary defines righteous as, "acting in accord with divine or moral law: free from guilt or sin." Righteousness then, in essence, would describe someone or something that is working in concert with the divine law or moral code as a Christian and who is free from sin or guilt. Jesus is talking about yearning for that, not being that. Being that would mean we are being self-rightneous, a.k.a. better than who we really are.

Many Christ followers act as though they are better than everyone else through judgment. "Well he is an alcoholic so he doesn't deserve to be a part of this church." "Sally sleeps with this guy because she doesn't value herself so we should just give up on helping her. She's just not acting like a Christian." Why don't we stop being "self-righteous" and just pray for, labor for, and work together with those who are struggling or do not believe, instead of just standing on the sidelines hurling our discontent at them. Let's turn that mirror on ourselves before we turn it on other people first. Strive for OUR own freedom from guilt and sin, then we can help others along their journey. My wonderful mother always said hate the sin, not the sinner.

Jesus said that we must pull the plank from our own eye before pulling the splinter from our brother's and sister's eye. Jesus loved us enough to bestow grace and forgiveness upon us. It's about time we do the same for our brothers and sisters........unconditionally! There are far deeper truths to this one verse, but that's enough for now.

With one massive set of tweezers,
Jesus Freak Out!