What is a "Righteous Man"?
One of my favorite stories about Jesus is when he’s approached by His friend, Peter, who asks how many times he should forgive a person. (See Matthew 18:21-35) Peter threw out a number, suggesting that a person should be forgiven 7 times. Seven (7) was understood to be the number of perfection and completion, so Peter was demonstrating his understanding of how important it is to forgive.
But it’s hard to discern a person’s heart, especially from a short and simple story. Was Peter asking in order to justify himself and his own self-righteousness or was he being sincere in trying to understand God’s view on forgiveness? Regardless, Jesus responds in a way that Peter wasn’t expecting, saying that we should forgive 70 times 7, figuratively explaining that there is no limit to the number of times we need to forgive others. Jesus then goes on to tell a story that explains this concept, tying how we are forgiven with our ability to forgive.
As we know, Peter like all Jesus’ friends abandoned Him when Jesus was tried and crucified. (Luke 22:54-62) Here was someone who walked with God incarnate and was considered one of Jesus’ closest friends, but he denied even knowing Jesus in His time of greatest need. Like many of us, Peter knew what the right thing to do was and still did the opposite.
As hard as it is to forgive others, it can often be harder to forgive oneself. Did Peter feel this way? We do know that Peter went back to fishing rather than following Jesus’ word to be a fisher of men, and Jesus had to remind Peter who he was called to be. (John 21)
How often can we feel discouraged by the sin in our lives? If we’re honest with ourselves, we continue to fall short of the perfection that Jesus modeled for us. And to be brutally honest, we don’t even live up to what we believe to be right, often rationalizing our concept of “good” to fit our behavior. We can justify it in so many ways: “All things in moderation”, “it’s not hurting anybody”, “it’s okay to relax and enjoy every now and then”, “Everyone else is doing it”, “I deserve this because…”, etc. And so we succumb to our desires, our desires then shape our behavior, our behaviors become habits and since we can’t live long in cognitive dissonance, we conform our morality to fit with our habitual behaviors because no one wants to think of themself as immoral.
If only we could see ourselves as God sees us!
I was given a vision years ago. I saw myself as a toddler and God as a Loving Father. I would take a step or two and fall down. Now my image of God was that He frowned upon my every stumble, but in this vision, He was cheering me on with each step I took, and when I fell down, He would just pick me up and encourage me to take another step. The more steps I took, the better I became at walking.
Even today, I continue to stumble, but my steps are steadier. Like a toddler, we should learn from our stumbles in life but not be discouraged by them. Everybody falls, but with perseverance, our steps become steadier. The Accuser of Men, Satan, would have us believe that each stumble is a crushing blow, that we should just stay on the ground, but God tells us to get up again. Satan says we are damaged goods, beyond hope, but from God's perspective, our bruises don’t define us. God will fan the fire in us and will not break us when we have been bruised. (Isaiah 42:3)
A righteous person may fall seven times, but he gets up again.
However, in a disaster wicked people fall.
I believe if we asked Jesus how many times He forgives us in our stumbles, He would not reply with the number 7. Rather, He would respond with “70 time 7!”. If so, how many times can a man get up again and still be righteous? Paul answered this question when he described the doctrine of Grace in Romans. God’s forgiveness is infinite, and every time we take another step of faith in grace, God’ grace abounds. And God the Father smiles upon each step.
So what is a Righteous Man? It's the man who gets up again and again and again, trusting in God's ability to change us from glory to glory!
copyright ©2024 Mitchell Malloy (http://mitchellmalloyblogspot.com/)
