Proverbs 21:21 (NASB) ‘He who pursues righteousness and loyalty Finds life, righteousness and honor. ‘
“You are what you eat.” Are you familiar with that saying? I’m going to assume that most reading this have heard that expression. There’s truth in this saying, is there not? It’s rhetorical truth, rather than literal truth, but truth all the same. If you sat around eating potato chips all day every day, you wouldn’t literally turn into a potato chip, but your health would suffer, you’d grow weak, loose muscle mass, gain fat, and become an overall unhealthy person. If you sit around consuming junk, your constitution suffers, plain and simple.
The point I am driving at is simply this, what you focus on, what you drive toward, what you consume, will in large part determine who are and who you become.
I’ll apply this to my pursuit of archery and specifically bow hunting. The more time I spend pursuing and consuming knowledge and experience, the more adept I become. The more focused my pursuit in these areas the more likely I am to be successful and the more I feel justified in identifying myself as a bow hunter.
The same is true in our walk with Christ. How many of you would identify yourself as righteous, a saint? Be honest. I will go out on a limb and say that the overwhelming majority of you said that you don’t. Why? Is it your sense of humility? Is it because you have sin in your life?
II Corinthians 5:21 ‘He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.’
Romans 5:19 ‘For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. ‘
Philippians 3:19, 20 ‘and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; ‘
God, Himself, declared you righteous the day His Son bore the sins of the world, bled and died upon the cross of cavalry. The day you acknowledged His atoning sacrifice for you and accepted the gift He paid for in blood, He declares you righteous.
So, where is your focus? Are you pursuing righteousness? Proverb 21:21 says if you do, you’ll find it, along with life and honor. Are you walking this life boldly identifying yourself as righteous, a saint? If you’re not, why not? Jesus does! Go after Jesus, focus on what He has done, accept the righteousness that He has already proclaimed for you, consume it, and boldly proclaim it for all the rest of the world to see. Have a blessed weekend.
In full pursuit of the greatest Trophy,
Scott Pace
