A Thought on to be Righteous and Moral

As you know, I don’t often write about myself, and if you’ve read me for awhile, you have at least an idea of why I don’t.  You know there’s never just one reason for why human beings do anything much as we’d like for that to be the case.  Now that I’m looking back on that last sentence, I can tell you I don’t like it, and maybe you don’t either. Still, I’m going to let it stand, but with this caveat, instead of saying “never” I’m going to say  “most of the time.”  Perhaps you have a better handle on your motivations for why you do things than I do, and if so then I congratulate you.  You’re further along on the road to “maturity” than I am.  For myself, I can tell you that I often see “self” lying somewhere in the mire of the complicated emotions and thoughts that trigger my actions and reactions toward my life, the world, and the people I encounter in it.

I don’t like seeing it, the “self-interest, the self-absorption, the self-love, the self-hate . . .” but more than these, the one I hate the most among all my many selves, is the one that keeps trying to draw a line; deep, dark, and wide between me and others; it’s the “self-righteous” one that I so often fight major battles with, and too often in my encounters with it I’m the one looking down on the one I’ve crushed underneath the weight of it.

The word “righteous” according to the American Heritage Dictionary means, “Morally upright; without guilt or sin.”  I wonder does this definition make you pause as it does me?  I guess whether it does or not depends on your definition on what moral is.  If you look in the same dictionary, you’ll see that “moral’ means: “Of or concerned with the judgment of the goodness or badness of human action and character.”  Read a little further, and it says, “Conforming to standards of what is right or just in behavior; virtuous.”  There’s two words in the previous definitions that make me think of another word, “loophole,” and it seems to me that’s what so many people in this world are doing.  Looking for loopholes.

“Loopholes” are created through the doorways of ‘judgment’ and ‘standards.’  Ever heard the phrase, “shifting morals?”  If you haven’t then you’re not old enough to have seen them shift, but ask someone who’s over 50, and I’ll make a small wager that they have.  I’d tell you to read back through history, but it’s being rewritten so fast I’m not so sure you’d actually see it unless you were really looking for it.

While you’re thinking about “shifting morals” I’ll lay another one on you.  How about “Shifting sand?”  Those of you who live by the ocean, a body of water, or are fairly familiar with their Bible no doubt have seen and know the term. Now there’s an obvious connection between the two terms, and one that perhaps isn’t quite so obvious, but no doubt you’ve made that one, too, and it’s in that they both have to do with foundations, and we all know what a foundation is, and what it’s for, and most of us have seen what happens when a foundation isn’t stable.

Without a solid foundation, few things will stand for long whether it be beliefs, buildings, or people. Eventually, everything is put to the test by something whether it be by tsunamis, tornadoes, or the trials, tribulations and temptations brought on by other people. We know people use all kinds of things as the foundation of their lives, but how many of those things can stand up to a fire? I have to tell you I don’t have anything materially that would survive if that were to happen to me, but spiritually I do.

It seems to me that more and more people in this world are choosing to build their own spiritual foundations based upon their own views of what it is to be righteous and moral and yet the judgments and standards used to assess those things are constantly changing. Perhaps that’s why we should look to the one who does not change, and to His word as presented in the “Holy Bible.”

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From “Zion’s Wayfarer” by Philpot

“Father, I will that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which you have given me–for you loved me before the foundation of the world.” _17:24

How great, how elevated above all utterance or all conception of men or angels, must the glory of Christ be–as the Son of the Father in truth and love! And not only is the Lord Jesus Christ glorious in his essential Deity as the Son of God, but glorious also in his holy, spotless humanity which he assumed in the womb of the Virgin Mary. For this, though the flesh and blood of the children, was “that holy One who was begotten of the Holy Spirit,” and was taken into union with his eternal Deity, that he might be “Immanuel, God with us.” The purity, holiness and innocence, the spotless beauty and complete perfection of this human nature, make it in itself exceedingly glorious; but its great glory is the union that it possesses and enjoys with the divine nature of the Son of God. The pure humanity of Jesus veils his Deity, and yet the Deity shines through it, filling it with unutterable brightness, and irradiating it with inconceivable glory. There is no blending of the two natures, for humanity cannot become Deity, nor can Deity become humanity; each nature remains distinct; and each nature has its own peculiar glory. But there is a glory also in the union of both natures in the Person of the God-man. That such wisdom should have been displayed, such grace manifested, such love revealed, and that the union of the two natures in the Person of the Son of God should not only have, so to speak, formerly originated, but should still unceasingly uphold, and eternally maintain salvation with all its present fruits of grace, and all its future fruits of glory, makes the union of the two natures unspeakably glorious.

And when we consider further that through this union of humanity with Deity, the Church is brought into the most intimate nearness and closest relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit, what a glory is seen to illuminate the Person of the God-man, who as God is one with God, and as man is one with man, and thus unites man to God, and God to man; thus bringing about the fulfillment of those wonderful words, “That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us.” And again, “I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one.”

Thus there is the glory of Christ as God, the glory of Christ as man, and the glory of Christ as God-man. And this threefold glory of Christ corresponds in a measure with what he was before he came into the world, with what he was while in the world, and with what he now is as having gone to the Father, according to his own words (_16:28). Before he came into the world his chief glory was that belonging to him as the Son of God; while in the world his chief glory was in being the Son of man; and now that he is gone back to heaven his chief glory is that of his being God and man in one glorious Person.

This latter glory of Christ, which is, in an especial sense, his mediatorial glory, is seen by faith here, and will be seen in the open vision of bliss hereafter. The three disciples on the Mount of transfiguration, Stephen at the time of his martyrdom, Paul when caught up into the third heaven, John in Patmos, had all special and supernatural manifestations of the glory of Christ; that is, surpassing what is generally given to believers. But the usual way in which we now see his glory is by the Holy Spirit “glorifying him by receiving of what is his, and showing it to the soul.” This divine and blessed Teacher testifies of him; takes away the veil of ignorance and unbelief which hides him from view; shines with a holy and sacred light on the Scriptures that speak of him; and raising up faith to believe in his name sets him before the eyes of the enlightened understanding, so that he is looked unto and upon; and though not seen with the bodily eye, is loved, believed, and rejoiced in with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Thus seen by the eye of faith, all that he is and has, all that he says and does is made precious and glorious. His miracles of mercy, while here below; his words so full of grace, wisdom, and truth; his going about doing good; his sweet example of patience, meekness, and submission; his sufferings and sorrows in the garden and on the cross; his spotless holiness and purity, yet tender compassion to poor lost sinners; his atoning blood and justifying obedience; his dying love, so strong and firm, yet so tried by earth, heaven, and hell; his lowly, yet honorable burial; his glorious resurrection, as the first-begotten of the dead, by which he was declared to be the Son of God with power; his ascension to the right hand of the Father, where he reigns and rules, all power being given unto him in heaven and earth, and yet intercedes for his people as the great High Priest over the house of God. What beauty and glory shine forth in all these divine realities, when faith can view them in union with the work and Person of Immanuel!