Pursue Righteousness and Kindness

“Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness,

Will find life, righteousness, and honor.”

Proverbs 21:21

I love Christmas. I love decorating our house for Christmas. I love shopping and buying presents for people. I like having a list to shop from, but I also like figuring out what someone would like and getting that for them. Then seeing the look of pleasure and surprise on their face knowing you figured out just the thing that they wanted or needed. I also love the opportunity to get together with family and friends to celebrate the reason for this special time – JESUS.

As I consider this verse from Proverbs 21:21 and ponder the purpose for Christmas, I can’t help but think about all that Jesus left behind in heaven so that He could be an example to us in pursuing righteousness and kindness. Jesus didn’t just pursue righteousness and kindness, He is the personification of righteousness and kindness. He isn’t just the personification of righteousness and kindness, but He willingly gives us “robes of righteousness.” (Is. 61:10).

How do we receive these robes of righteousness? “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom. 10:9). Jesus died in our place paying a debt that we could not pay, and once He paid that penalty and we believe that He did, we receive from Jesus “robes of righteousness.” It sure seems like those who believe in Jesus get the better end of the deal. We deserve nothing and did nothing and yet we get everything.

Looking at our verse in Proverbs 21:21 Jesus pursued righteousness and kindness, and what did he receive in return? He gives us the hope of eternal life. He gives us righteousness. We receive honor because we have the hope of spending eternity in heaven with God.

So how does Jesus benefit from living a righteous and kind life? He brings honor and glory to His Father. He represents His Father to us. We see how living a life of serving God by serving others brings the greatest peace, hope, joy, and satisfaction we could ever desire.

Jesus came to earth as a baby to grow up and live a sinless and righteous life to demonstrate His love (Rom. 5:8) for us and teach us how to live. (Phil. 2). So how than shall we live?

We should live righteously demonstrating love and kindness to others. The more our love for God grows the easier it is to love and serve others. Jesus is our greatest example of this.

The more we love ourselves the harder it is to love, serve, and show kindness to others. How can we live righteously and show kindness to others when we are always looking at how to please ourselves? As we give of our life to others, just like Jesus did, we are breathing life into others.

As we plant seeds of righteousness into others, we will see the seeds of that righteousness flourish and grow in their lives. As we seek to love and serve others, we are demonstrating honor to others.

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11).

As we celebrate Christmas and remember the true purpose of Christmas, we need to appreciate Christ’s sacrifice for us. We must be thankful for the righteousness and kindness that He showed to us, and we must cherish the example He was. As we experience feelings of dissatisfaction related to our selfishness, we then need to turn to the only One who can really give us peace, hope and joy. There is not one verse in Scripture that encourages us to look out for our interests. There is not one verse that says we are to focus on ourselves and deny others. God made us in His image. Since we are made in the image of God, the logical conclusion based on the example of Christ is to focus on others and deny ourselves.

Let’s commit to celebrating Christmas, by living lives of righteousness and kindness and demonstrating God’s image to everyone we come in contact with by loving and serving them well.

Merry Christmas!