Week One: Day Two
The Story
The floor had just fallen through to the foundation underneath. Water was everywhere. Anna had laid new carpet only two months ago. She spent time agonizing over whether her insurance would sky rocket due to a claim. It was only two months ago that she had a flood of water from a broken washing machine drench her floor. Here she was again in the same predicament. It was the same washing machine now twice broken. Someone had to pay and it was not going to be her or so she had thought.
It turned out that the first time the washing machine broke was Anna’s fault for overloading the machine well past it’s limit. The machine itself was under warrantee and was fixed by a technician. She also had to have the carpet and flooring replaced due to the water damage. While it had been her fault due to improper loading, she had an insurance policy for her home and decided to file a claim. Until now Anna had never placed a claim on her home.
Here she was again. She was in the same scenario. Anna had placed an oversized comforter in her washing machine that she knew was too big for her small unit yet thought very little of it. When she returned from playing volleyball with her friends she found her entire living room and kitchen under water. What could she do? She knew that her insurance company could raise her rates if she submitted another claim this quickly, but she could not afford to fix the home herself.
Anna called her insurance agent, Mr. Jareth Gilliard, and threw herself at his mercy. She explained her scenario and the financial trouble she was going to be in. Mr. Gilliard showed his kind heart and beautiful mastery of his insurance prowess and got Anna the help she needed. He filed it in such a way that would not hurt her insurance reputation. They each ended the call and Anna jumped for joy looking over her soaked home.
As the insurance claim went through so did the re-flooring of her home. The floor installers needed to move the broken washing machine and while doing so, they made a few scratches on her wall. Instead of letting it go, Anna fumed at the two men who had accidentally made the mistakes. She immediately began to plan how she was going to get the company’s management involved. Little did Anna know that one of the installers was Jareth Gilliard Jr. As she was beginning to berate these gentlemen, she read Jareth’s name tag and realized that his father had gone to great lengths to help her. Here she was about to belittle someone for something much less. Immediately, she reconsidered her anger and let her installers off the hook. She learned a lesson in what mercy could and should look like. After all, she had been forgiven of much more.
The Devotion
Words have meanings. Words also come and go out of our lexicon. Some of this is to our detriment. The words righteous and righteousness are seeming to lose their utility in our English language. So much so that when I asked my junior high worship team on Wednesday night to define the word righteousness, there were few who would even attempt it.
The best definition for the word righteousness that I know is right standing with God. The idea is that because of Jesus’ work on the cross, we now have the right to stand in the presence of God. Righteousness cannot be attained through works. It is the grace or unmerited favor of the Lord. Due to this favor, we have right standing with him.
In the Bible, there are several references to righteousness or to being righteous. You will see this phrase repeatedly “the righteous shall live by faith” [Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38; Habakkuk 2:4]. Righteousness is referred to several times in the book of Psalms. One instance is, “Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart” [Psalm 36:10]. In most cases, righteousness and faith are intermingled. You cannot have one without the other. To have faith you must act in faith. I can tell you that I’m a chef, but if I have never been in the kitchen, there isn’t much evidence to support my pronouncement. Living a righteous life requires faith in action in the same way. In the Old Testament, Abraham’s faith in God is what made him righteous. He was still longing for the cross of Jesus, so it was in his believing God would do what he said he would do that made him righteous. Awesome!
Daily faith in God is not easy. Faith in gravity is a bit easier. We all believe in gravity because we can test its limits. Perhaps, however, faith in God can be as easy as understanding gravity, when we learn more about him. Paul wrote, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” [Romans 10:17]. Therefore, to increase your faith, you must increase your time in God’s word.
Today, we need to do our best to live out our faith in action and claim our right standing with God; our righteousness. Share the word righteousness and its meaning with as many as opportunity allows. We desperately do not want to let the word righteousness and various other ecclesiastical words fade off into the lexicon old folks home. Keeping important words like this alive only happens when we are intentional.
May you be a person of great faith today and may your faith move you to action. Let the righteous acts of the saints be like your robe [Revelation 19:8].
The Bible
Matthew 18 | Romans 10 | Hebrews 10
The Prayer
“Dear Lord Jesus, I thank You today that I can stand righteous before the Father because of Your work on the cross. I do not deserve to stand here, but I do. May You continue to increase my faith and show me more of the Father. Please bring friends, family members and co-workers into my path whom I can encourage to trust You more. As my faith increases inwardly, may it be apparent outwardly as well. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
