The Power Of Righteousness
Proverbs 11:4 (ESV) says, “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.” This promise always catches my attention. It is easy to underestimate the power of righteousness, but if it saves us from death, I want to know all I can about it.
We often categorize righteousness as good behavior. With this mindset, righteousness and wickedness are only external. We become judges of what is good and bad when we only look at the outside. Certain behaviors are undeniably evil, and others are undeniably good. Killing is bad, and generosity is good—everyone can discern that.
What about the grey area? How do we define righteousness when the situations we find ourselves in are more complicated? When we view righteousness and wickedness only as external conditions, it opens us up to be more easily deceived. We can soon confuse good with evil and evil with good. It isn’t as uncommon or shocking as we might think.
Proverbs describe this day of wrath where riches will do nothing to help us. Only the righteous ones made holy by the word of God will be delivered in that day. So how do we become righteous and holy in this way?
I think of Psalm 51:6 (ESV) that says, “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” It is a good reminder that the holiness God desires is firstly on the inside. All activity is an overflow of what is going on inside of us. That’s why Jesus says in Matthew 12:35 (ESV), “The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.”
The advantages of the flesh do nothing for us in the realm of the spirit. Righteousness is on the inside, and only Christ can transform us from broken to whole.
As you go through your day, consider the promptings of the Holy Spirit in the mundane moments where he is speaking to you and calling you into righteousness. Know that when the sacrifice seems high, it is to prepare us to be delivered from death on that day of wrath.
Amen.
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