Your Daily Slice

Sivan 16

Righteousness

“In the way of righteousness is LIFE, and in the pathway thereof there is no death.”  (Proverbs 12:28 HRVS, emphasis mine)

Noah Webster defines “righteousness” as “Purity of heart and rectitude of life; conformity of heart and life to the divine law. Righteousness, as used in Scripture and theology, in which it is chiefly used, is nearly equivalent to holiness, comprehending holy principles and affections of heart, and conformity of life to the divine law. It includes all we call justice, honesty and virtue, with holy affections; in short, it is true religion”[1].  The Bible defines righteousness as simply doing what we know to be right (see 1John 3:7).

Biblical “law”, as we understand it, is usually interpreted to mean Torah, the first five books of what is generally accepted as the Bible.  However, Torah has also come to be known as all of the completed Bible, since “All Scripture is breathed by Elohim and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for setting straight, for INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, that the man of Elohim might be fitted, equipped for every good work.” (2Tim 3:16-17 ISR emphasis mine).  Without these “instructions in righteousness”, we will fall off of the “narrow path that leads to life” (Mat 7:14).

Messiah Yeshua taught these same instructions in righteousness.  He did not give us any new doctrine, but taught us straight from Torah, from YHWH’s Word:  “He who does not love Me does not guard My Words. And the Word which you hear is not Mine but of the Father Who sent Me.”  (John 14:24; see also John 8:28, 38; John 15:15)  When we deliberately make a choice to ignore any or all of these “divine instructions in moral and righteous living”, we are walking through dangerous ground.  Yeshua warned us that “wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are the ones entering in through it” (Mat 7:13).

Within one 24 hour time frame, I had two separate and opposite examples related to me: one of UNrighteous and carnal living by an individual who casually professes Yeshua as Master, and the other, that of a humble and righteous man, completely in love with his Messiah Yeshua.  As the Great Day of our Messiah King draws closer, I believe we will see fewer and fewer people on this “straight and narrow path that leads away into life”.  I perceive this as the “falling away” that Rav Sha’ul (Apostle Paul) spoke of (2The 2:3; 1Tim 4:1).  Many may not be willing to pay the cost of continuing on with these “instructions in righteousness”, of continuing along the Torah Trail. 

“יהוה, who does sojourn in Your Tent? Who does dwell in Your set-apart mountain? He who walks blamelessly, And DOES RIGHTEOUSNESS, And speaks the truth in his heart.”  (Ps 15:1-2 ISR, emphasis mine)

©2018

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[1] American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, emphasis mine