Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you Mat. 6:33
If you need a good New Year’s resolution you don’t have to look much further than Jesus’ exhortation for us to prioritize the kingdom of God and the many expressions of His righteousness in our lives. According to this Scripture, by simply obeying the promptings of righteousness all the other resolutions we feel our life needs will automatically be looked after.
We generally think of righteousness in terms of our relationship to morality or to people. But the word means much more than that. It means to be rightly related to all things in your life—to exercise, to sleep, to your diet, to your finances, to work, to ministry, to your possessions, to entertainment, and yes, even to your computer and smart phone. These are all areas where righteousness applies. And they are also areas where we likely feel off-kilter at times. We keep trying to find a balance, but we keep missing the mark.
God is always indicating to us adjustments we need to make in life, which is why we should approach righteousness more as an act of obedience than one of discipline or management. If we simply heed the correctives of the Holy Spirit, God is prepared to show us how to live without excess or neglect in our relationship to all things.
Peace and stability are generally the indicators of being rightly related to something. In the OT, when righteousness prevailed in the land, the people enjoyed shalom, a word that means much more than peace. It speaks of wholeness, rest, harmony, and of the absence of agitation or discord. When everything is in right relationship to everything else, the result is shalom.
Turmoil, on the other hand, usually indicates that adjustments are still needed. It creates tension in us until the changes life is crying out for are made. Such restlessness is a God-given instinct through which the Holy Spirit teaches us the correctives we need. Just as our inner ear can tell us when we are standing off balance, so this God-given instinct can help us recognize when we are off-kilter in a relationship. If we simply follow its leading, the Holy Spirit will free us from all the unnecessary wear and tear that being wrongly related to something produces in our lives.
The correctives of the Holy Spirit have a way of nagging us until we either do something about them or else shut them out. If we consistently ignore these promptings we will develop what Jesus calls a “calloused heart,” which is not much different from the calluses we develop on our hands from manual labour, or on our feet from walking. Our bodies warn us when a blister is developing. It even provides pain to alert us of impending injury. And if our inattentiveness persists, these repeated blisters eventually become a callus. Having refused to heed its first warnings, our body shifts to plan B. It hardens the skin, making itself insensitive to further stimulus. This is what happens when we also ignore the Holy Spirit’s promptings. We end up losing our relational sensitivity to that area of our lives.
To seek and find righteousness in all our relationships is certainly a realistic goal for any of us in the coming year. We were created for righteousness in all areas of our life. And in order to enjoy such accord with everything we need simply be more attentive to the discords we sense, to recognize them for what they are—the promptings of the Holy Spirit—and to be more willing to obey whatever adjustments they are calling for.
Rob Des Cotes
Imago Dei Christian Communities
(written for Jan. 9th, 2014)
FOR DISCUSSION:
- How would you describe the shalom you feel when you are rightly related to some aspect of your life? How would you describe the experience of not being in right relationship to something?
- In what relationships have you allowed a callus to develop over your heart? Are there areas in your life where, by ignoring the Spirit’s promptings, you have lost your relational sensitivity?
- Consider an area of your life where God is presently indicating that correctives are needed. How does it change your motivation to consider this prompting as a call to obedience rather than a burden of responsibility?
FOR PRAYER: Choose one of these two prayer options to be the focus of today’s prayer. Choose the other one for some other day.
1) Imagine living in right relationship to all things in your life. Meditate on the quality of “shalom” that God envisions for you in these relationships.
2) Take stock of an area in your life where there is still turmoil in your relationship to something. Welcome whatever correctives the Holy Spirit is suggesting to you. Ask God for His aid in helping you choose to obey these promptings in your life.