It is righteousness—not of words, not of theories, but in being, that is, in vital action, which alone is the prince of power of the (Holy) spirit. Where that is, everything has its perfect work; where that is not, the man is not a power—is but a walker in a vain show. George MacDonald
Righteousness is one of those words, one if we think long in defining it, we never come close enough. Rather would we choose to pass by it as an acquaintance than to stay awhile and get to know it as a friend.
Allow me to impose and slightly rewrite an excerpt from a poem I wrote:
Upon her ground,
the lonesome, silent chapparal
hears imagination’s rippling
rivulets rush, unaware righteousness,
her sentinel pillars
watch the passersby.
In a sense, we are all passersby when we read the word righteous in Scripture. The word describes our Lord, and any thought we could be like Christ is quickly dismissed. We know better. Yet, every Christian is called to be righteous.
Perhaps the angst we have with the word lies in our attempt to define it. Herein is the problem: Becoming righteous is not an intellectual pursuit. In some conscious way, we spend too much time trying to be right. But that devil trips us up because in the trying, right, being right, is but a servant to our view of the matter. This makes me think there is more to it.
I think MacDonald helps us by essentially saying righteousness is in the being and doing. When Christ comes into our life, thinking about such a life is but a form of resistance to what that life demands. A Christian can know when Christ is transforming him when ever-present in his mind is the essence of Christ’s teaching: It’s time to get on with it!
When you have reached this point, being and doing greet each other. When you actually get on with it, you will become, are becoming, have become what God desires. You have become righteous.
Let’s make this less intimidating. The whole of the Christian journey is to take on the character of God, to be merciful, to love, and to forgive. Each is a matter of the heart, born not of mind but from those experiences where wisdom informed you of a better way. Then, when you have taken vital action, you have responded as Christ commanded. You have engaged your neighbor not as you were, but as you have become—more merciful, more loving, more forgiving.
Nowhere in life can this be tested than the minute you come upon a homeless person. If in the encounter there arises within you some sense of judgment, unrighteousness and self-righteousness remain. If you give freely to him without thought to whatever consequences may ensue, righteousness has come from behind not in theory, rather by heart. If you walk away without patting yourself on the back, the Holy Spirit has made work of you and will make work of him.