No Whining, Just Winning

Read It, Learn It, Live It, Share It

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people." – Proverbs 14:34

  Living in righteousness requires that one fully embrace and understand the meaning of the word.  Most people will immediately discount the word righteousness, because it brings with it an expectation of perfection and living a Christ-like life.  Certainly, we agree that righteousness (the act of being righteous) implies that one is living within societies accepted standards of morality, values and justice.  But who defines those things?  Is there a single standard for being righteous or living morally?

  The essence of righteous living draws one to conclude that a person is living upright and within the boundaries set by men and by God.  For the root of righteous stems from the old English term right wise, meaning a person that was wise and correct in their actions.  In the reference of scripture the term has Hebrew roots in the word “tsedaq”, which means accurate, fair, justice, rightly or Holy. 

  Can a nation live righteously?  Can you?

  We often times step away from that which seems daunting and unachievable and throw up our hands in defeat.  What use is it, I am only one person, how can I change the nation?  It’s this attitude of poor me and helplessness that continues to be the demise of our society in general.  When those who stand for righteousness stop caring, the enemy has won.  You and I may not single handedly teach people across the nation about turning from their sinfulness and toward righteousness, but we can teach those around us.  Those in our family, our friends our sphere of influence are within our reach.  It becomes a choice as to whether or not you are willing to stand up for it or not. 

  The word righteous appears in the Bible nearly 500 times because we are called to live in this manner.  Christ lived upon this earth as an example of a righteous life.  Can you become righteous as Christ is righteous, hardly.  You were born into sin, by the very nature of the blood that runs through your veins.  On the other hand, He was born of the Holy Spirit, through the virgin Mary without the sin of mankind.  He was perfectly righteous from the moment of His first breath and through His last upon the cross.  We have faith in His righteousness as our salvation, for God demands perfection and righteousness for eternity with Him.  Without Christ as the sacrifice for our sinful nature, there is no way to achieve righteousness on our own.  You might be able to be righteous for 4 or 5 minutes at a time now and then, but your very sinful nature will once again get in the way.

  Despite your attempts at living righteous, you will find it unachievable.  Bring the Holy Spirit into the equation, and all of a sudden your righteousness meter goes up dramatically.  Follow the Holy Spirit’s lead in your life and influence those around through His direction and one by one, many by many we can make an impact in the righteousness of this nation.  Nothing is beyond the capacity or capability of our Father in Heaven.  He is above all things and when we choose to trust and follow Him, we can do amazing things with the little bit of skill and talent He has given us.  Start with your household and then work your way out from there.  Start living with righteousness in your own life through the strength and power of the Holy Spirit, then let that expand to those around you.  You’ll be surprised how much influence you really have.

             

© Sondove Enterprises, 2013
For more Daily Thoughts go to: http://sondove.blogspot.com
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Stop and Look Around

Read It, Learn It, Live It, Share It

“Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” – Titus 2:12-13

I have always found this scripture to be reassuring and challenging.  Daily we are bombarded with opportunities for unrighteous, ungodly behavior.  The world is filled with lustful desires and tempting distractions, causing each of us to take a step back and ask ourselves, “What if Jesus were with me right now?” 

One of the things they teach you in press training is never say something that you would not want on the cover of the Wall Street Journal the next morning.  Truthful, factual and authentic words must be carefully planned before they ever leave your lips.  It is so easy in today’s fast paced world to say something that you didn’t truly mean, regardless of what the intent might have been.  So it is with our actions.  People get caught up in the moment and one thing leads to another and suddenly they’ve gone too far.  What is it about our desire to impress, to blend in and to create an image of acceptance that drives us to step over that boundary of righteous behavior? 

We are bound by an inherent evil of the flesh and desires of the heart in this world.  It isn’t something that only impacts a select group of individuals, or a small percentage of the populous.  The real question is not whether we are all sinful.  The answer to that is unequivocally yes, it is in every single one of us from Kim Kardashian to Billy Graham, we are all captive by the sinful nature of mankind.  The real question is around our adherence to the convictions of the Holy Spirit and our ability of each of us to deny this nature and seek the righteousness and godliness of our Savior – Jesus Christ.  The more control we give over to the God and the Holy Spirit the easier it becomes to resist the temptations when they arise.  There is where the real problem comes into play.  We look at the lustful desires of our heart and choose to pursue them.  It is a choice we are making to refuse God’s will for our life and pursue that which we know to be against His righteousness. 

There are areas in my life where I have to constantly be reminding myself that where I go, I take God (in the Holy Spirit) with me.  I am dragging the perfection of our King and Almighty Father into the depths of Hell and evil by decisions I am making in my life.  I know I’m not alone in this struggle.  I know that the likelihood is, that as you are reading this you are also scouring through your mind those areas where you know you have given in to the cravings of your flesh and the lustful desires of your heart.  It might be in the area of work, greed, materialism, sex, drugs, alcohol, food and yes even violence. 

Have you noticed that in the valley’s of your life, you probably had taken the steering wheel back with full intent of controlling the curves in your life – only to end up in the ditch.  Today is the day for you to lay it out there for the Lord to deal with.  By confessing it to the Lord, seeking repentance for your thoughts and transgressions you begin down a new path of righteousness with God.  Give Him the steering wheel and I promise that the car will stay out of the ditch.  There is one simple question to ask yourself when you are faced with a decision of unrighteous, ungodly behavior; “What if this ends up on the front page of the Heavenly Street Journal tomorrow morning?”   In most cases, knowing that Jesus Christ is returning at any moment, you should also be asking yourself; “If I were entertaining Jesus Christ would I bring Him to this event (situation or action)?”  If, in His physical presence, you would not choose the same way, than you probably realize that the activity is probably unrighteous and you shouldn’t be taking the Holy Spirit there either.  The right thing to do is take 2 minutes, pray about it and ask God to make your mind clear on the decision that will best uplift His glory.

PRAYER:
Heavenly Father,
We are captured in the sinful nature, passed on from generation to generation.  We are drawn like moths to a light, bees to honey and ants to a picnic; to the temptations of evil in this world.  We are surrounded by temptations of lust, desires, greed, food and so many other areas that we cannot stand without Your strength.  So Lord, we beseech You to build a fortress within each of us to stand strong against the evil in this world; keeping our eyes focused on Your return to bring us home.  Forgive us for our weakness and our choices to pursue our flesh and not Your will in our lives.  Help us to become filled with Your Holy Spirit so that every decision is righteous in Your eyes and represents Your glory to all that we come in contact with.  In Your precious name we pray - Amen

             

© Sondove Enterprises, 2013
For more Daily Thoughts go to: http://sondove.blogspot.com