Righteousness and Wickedness

From our Introductory Post:

“The righteous have sat back and allowed the wicked to take over our relationships to God, families, churches, governments, schools and colleges, journalism, entertainment, sports, sciences, and a whole litany of other endeavors in our society.”

Righteousness and Wickedness

A righteous person is FOR God and, according to Webster, is “observant of the divine commands in practice; as a righteous man.” One who is righteous is aligned with the holy Creator God. The holiness of God means He is “perfectly pure, immaculate and complete in moral character.”

A wicked person is AGAINST God and is described as “deviating from the divine law.” One who is wicked is aligned with Satan, an evil being who is totally against God but whose power is, in no sense, equal to God’s.

There is no middle ground in the distinction between righteousness and wickedness. Jesus Christ, the eternally existent Son of the Creator God, said, “He that is not with me is against me.” (Matthew 12:30)

In 1831 a young French aristocratic statesman and political philosopher, Alexis De Tocqueville, visited the United States to observe the distinctively American system at work. He later wrote a lengthy book, Democracy in America, to document his observations. A quote similar to “America is great because America is good” has often been attributed to De Tocqueville. He may or may not have said this, but in his book he did say “I cling with a firmer hold to the belief that for democratic nations to be virtuous and prosperous, they require but to will it.” This quotation is taken from Democracy in America, Chapter VIII, General Survey of the Subject. This says virtually the same thing in different words.

Summary

Therefore, we are not talking about self righteousness but about a righteousness which comes only from the Creator God through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Being righteous is being FOR God while wickedness is expressed in attitudes and actions AGAINST God. We will follow this thought as we investigate our personal relationship with God in a later post. This alignment is evident even to external observers who desire to make an unprejudiced judgment.

I remain yours in the name of Jesus Christ, the name above every name.

“Mr. Phil”