“Our Character Is Our Defense!”
Falling In Love With God’s Word #3
Read Psalm 119:5-8
These four verses intensely express the end goal of our commitment to God and his
word – we want to be right before him! Ultimately, we want to be free of shame (v. 6),
found competent and faithful in carrying out his desires (v. 5), and to stand favorably
before our creator at the end of our lives (v. 8). Since the author says we are learning
God’s “righteous laws,” it will be good for us to define righteousness.
Upon hearing the word “righteousness,” many have visions of commands, laws, do’s,
don’ts, rules and regulations. Of course that is a necessary part of God’s plan, but if that
is ALL we see, the Christian life is drudgery, and the word is woefully misunderstood.
God’s righteousness is our goal, but if carrying out his commands like good soldiers
were the extent of fulfilling this, the old law would have never needed to be replaced.
Jesus himself tells his followers “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the
Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of heaven.”
(Matt. 5:20). This is remarkable, especially since the Pharisees were the strict “law
abiders.” No, it goes much, much deeper than that. The word “righteousness” comes
from “Dikaiosune,” which means “equity of character,” or “a character or quality of being
right.” A focus on mere actions sells this word short. It is not just what we do, but who
we are becoming. It is not just what we stand for, but who we really are in our
character. No wonder the old spelling of righteousness used to be “rightwiseness,”
seriously! Actions often flow from character. True righteousness is a heart that is
continually committed to becoming more holy, consistently moving towards greater and
deeper transformation and Christ-likeness. If THAT is our goal (and believe me, that is
much more inspiring that trying to just DO good things), then our actions will generally
remind everyone that we belong to God.
Lastly, that classic passage in Ephesians 6:14 tells us to guard our hearts with the
“breastplate of righteousness.” This is so crucial to understand. In our fight against
Satan and the destructive forces of this world, the defense of our heart is left to our
character. Let’s face it - there are plenty of times we make wrong choices. We do
compromise and violate God’s commands. We blow it, we fall short, we sin. If our
defense depended merely on our performance record in following God’s word, we’d be
toast. It doesn’t. The truth is, Satan can’t penetrate a heart guarded by strong
character. The building of Godly character includes many victories and failures in
carrying out his commands. However, by persistently continuing to follow what God
lays out in the Bible, no matter what, over time we achieve just that.
Thank God he cares more about who I am becoming today that by simply how I am
doing in the task. His grace is ridiculously motivating to me!
Reflections
1. If you have children, what do you care more about: their performance scorecard, or
the big picture of who they are becoming? Think about this in relation to God and his
word…