January 11

“But one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.”  Proverbs 11:18b

Henry Blackaby in his devotional on sowing seeds of righteousness asks this question:  “How are you cultivating righteousness in your relationships so that you maintain your integrity?”   Always in the past when I thought about righteousness it was always about appearance--do I look like I’m doing the right thing--not necessarily was I doing the right thing.  All that mattered was that I muster up obedience to love my neighbor.  However, doing the right thing often depended on the circumstances or the people involved.  When I couldn’t overcome these obstacles I felt a failure.  It never occurred to me that maintaining my integrity was a necessary part of righteousness.  The dictionary definition of integrity is “undivided”, “honesty”.  I can see now that putting up a facade of righteousness divided me and this dishonesty was not the proper seedbed in which to grow righteousness.  We must come to God an open book not only to Him but also to ourselves.  If we continue to lie to ourselves about what’s really in our hearts our soil is contaminated--the seed will not germinate.  But if we lay ourselves bare before God (confession) and repent (agree with God we don’t want to be this way anymore), He then can begin our transformation.  The fruit of the Spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control--will begin to ripen and produce luscious fruit, not only for our sake, but as a blessing to others.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.”  Matthew 6:33