Seek Righteousness First – Part 3

The word “righteousness” in the New Testament is the Greek word dikaiosunē (G1343). According to Thayer’s Greek Definitions, this Greek word means:

1) in a broad sense: state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God
1a) the doctrine concerning the way in which man may attain a state approved of God
1b) integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, and acting
2) in a narrower sense, justice or the virtue which gives each his due

As you can see, the righteousness that God has imputed to us, which Jesus Christ died so that we might have, is the power to live right. It is the power to live right that makes us acceptable to God.

I would say that it all comes down to expectation. Expectation is the key to disappointment. Expectation can put the will of man ahead of the will of God. Expectation can lead to a sense of guilt and unbelief as a believer puts all sorts of religious expectations on himself.

The Bible says that we who believe in Christ have been made the righteousness of God in Him. However, what happens if the next day we go and do something that we should not, or we are plagued by negative thoughts, or people are rude to us, or we don’t see the evidence of the victory that we were expecting?

We become defeated when we take such things to mean that we have not been given righteousness as a free gift; or we can suppose that we have been given right-standing with God as a free gift, but it is up to us to obey the rules. We can bring these expectations into context with the admonishment of Jesus in Matthew 6:31-33.

31 "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matthew 6:31-33

It is so easy to fall into the trap of agreeing that you have been made right with God, but then the despair that still clings to you drives you to panic and complain because you still don’t have the provision that you believe you need.

In the case of Matthew 6:31, Jesus uses the examples of food, water and clothing. If you already have food, water and clothing, then you will not worry about them. It is when you don’t have these things that you worry about them. But Jesus tells us to not worry about these things. In order to stop worrying about such fundamental needs, we really do need the peace and joy that only God can bring. But quite often we do not see peace and joy alone as being sufficient for our needs, and as a result, we seek after provision before the kingdom of God.