Greetings Dear Reader,
I realize that this may sound very theological. I am not trying to lecture you on
theology. I am laying a foundation for
that over which we stand sentinel. There
are times when there is a clear right and wrong. There are times when you are absolutely right. This should not be confused with
righteousness. Righteousness is the
quality of being morally right or justifiable.
It is acting in accord with divine or moral law: free from guilt or
sin. The primary difference is that we are often right but our state is
not one of righteousness.
We have all done things that are wrong. We are all crooked sticks. We compare ourselves to those “worse” than us
or measure the goodness of others by our own moral code. We fail to daily see that we do not begin to
approach the righteousness of the Father.
Our very best intention or deed is nothing compared to the righteousness
of God. We see the distance between our
morality and our neighbor’s. We seem blind
to the great gulf between us and God.
The idea that we have righteousness may, therefore, seem
contradictory to this truth. It is not something
we can attain on our own. Our current
state is not righteousness. God,
however, commits our standing with him to righteousness in Christ. Any righteousness we carry is conferred to us
by Christ and is not our own.
We must stand sentinel over the righteousness conferred to
us. We can do it in confidence but not
in pride. It is not something that we
own but it is ours. It is not earned but
given. It is not our ability or intrinsic
nature. It is our primary armor against
the failures we commit. It is what
reassures us that the Father loves and accepts us even in our darkest moments.
This is what also stands as the sentinel forbidding us from
judging others. That comparison we do,
it is an exercise in failure. No one is “worse”
than us in the eyes of God. No one is
less deserving of the Father’s love, grace, and mercy. Righteousness is not ours to wield. It is ours to wear. We can wear righteousness and stand sentinel
over it by the grace of the Father. Wielding it as a weapon to judge others is failure to be right spawned in pride and
arrogance.
We must stand sentinel over righteousness Dear Reader. We must not, however, think that we have the
right to judge others because of it. It
should trigger compassion and humility.
It should move us to deeper love for the Father and our fellow
humans. Until we yield to this truth, we
cannot wield righteousness at all.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner.
He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Contacts for Aramis
Thorn:
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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