Flourish in Knowledge of God’s Righteousness

    We can be just as guilty as the Israelites in Paul’s day, who had “a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.” (Romans 10:2-3). The Israelites wanted to keep the Law (the Old Covenant or the Law of Moses), they wanted to stick with what they knew, and they refused to hear the gospel of Christ. They knew of God and obeyed His commandments in their own habitual way; they had heard Him (and listened to His instructions) only up to a point but would go no further. They were content with what they held to and refused to look further at the Scriptures (the books of our Old Testament, which they would have had access to), unlike the Bereans who came to faith after searching the Scriptures daily to find out if the things the apostle Paul taught were accurate (Acts 17:11-12).

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”” (Romans 1:16-17 NKJV) 

    We can reach a level of “knowledge” and stop learning. We can feel our “goodness” is acceptable and our attendance at church services is enough that “we’re okay.” We can fall into the habit of rarely opening our Bibles throughout the week, sometimes not even at church services. We can say that what we know is enough, but if what we know is not God’s righteousness – and we are not growing in our knowledge of Him and His Word – then we are simply making up our own righteousness and fooling ourselves into thinking that it is acceptable to God.

    When we don’t know – or grow – in knowledge of God and His righteousness we can lead others astray…

…in being complacent about God and His will (Proverbs 1:32-33, Revelation 3:15-16, Matthew 24:42, 1 Peter 5:8)

…in being wrong about God and His will (Acts 8:14-24, 13:45, 14:1-2)

…in being a roadblock to their understanding (Galatians 2:11-13, Luke 11:52, Hebrews 5:12-13)

    And we will become weak ourselves – read and consider Hebrews 5:12-14 – how will we know what is truly good and what is evil if we do not develop toward consuming “solid food” and exercise our senses by applying what we learn? We, too, can become like those in Romans 1:18-22, who knew God but “did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful” We, too, can become “futile in our thoughts,” our “foolish hearts” can darken, and we can think ourselves wise, but become fools.

    When we become satisfied with what we know and stop searching the treasures of wisdom and knowledge found in God the Father and Jesus the Son (Colossians 2:2-3, Psalm 119:161b-162), content with our own form of righteousness,  than our prayers may soon become rote and our attendance and attention may become mechanical – because our heart won’t be in them.  

    Let’s not let that happen! Let’s use the time that God has blessed us with this day to gain more knowledge of Him – begin reading the Psalms or the epistle to the Ephesians, and really think on what you read! Let that knowledge motivate you to grow in understanding, as you humbly acknowledge His wisdom, and submit to His righteousness!

 You can do it! So can I!!