Devotions: Worthwhile Pursuits

 

He who pursues righteousness and loyalty
Finds life, righteousness and honor.

Proverbs 21:21 New American Standard Bible 1995

 

The word hesed translated loyalty here, could more accurately be translated as lovingkindness, compassion or mercy. I believe Jesus was referencing this verse in His Sermon on the Mount when He said, “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Those who seek or follow the righteous way of life will find true life, as well as eternal life, plus righteousness and honor. This seems redundant to say that those who seek righteousness will find it, but the trick is that we cannot attain righteousness on our own. We can never be righteous apart from God. It is only by believing in Christ and accepting His sacrifice for our sins that we can gain His righteousness. So if we seek His righteousness we will receive it, but if we try to do it on our own we will never find righteousness. In order to receive true righteousness we need to seek it from the true source. We also need to pursue compassion. Mercy is a big deal to God. He has shown mercy to us so we need to extend it to others. This will bring life and honor. We can only have the truly good things in life if we pursue God and His ways. We have to live it to receive it. This does not mean that we will do it perfectly. Note it says “pursues” not perfectly performs. It’s the heart that matters. God doesn’t expect us to achieve perfection in this life, but He does expect us to pursue or follow after it.

What are you pursuing or following after? What are you finding? Do you seek God’s righteousness or your own? Ask God to help you reevaluate your priorities and desires. Seek His righteousness and find true life.

 

 

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Translations of Greek and Hebrew words taken from blueletterbible.org