RIGHTEOUSNESS, JUDGEMENT AND EQUITY

Proverbs 2:9-15

Thoughts for the Day

If we recieve and treasure His words, then we can understand righteousness, judgment and equity and know the right and good path in which to walk. Let us look at these three words: righteousness, judgment and equity.

(1) First, the Bible definition of righteousness means "to be in right standing with God." This is only possible through one way -- we must accept Jesus, God's son, as our savior. We must repent of our sins and receive God's pardon for those sins through what Jesus did on the cross. When we yield our life to Christ, it is at that moment that we become righteous (or become in right standing) with God. This is a gift of God and has nothing to do with what we have done or have not done. We are now righteous in God's sight. We are now just as pure as God's own Son, Jesus. The only requirement to maintain this righteousness is that we stay in a right relationship with Christ, by faith in what He has done for us. We are not saved by works, but by the grace of God. However, good works will be the evidence that we are saved. Good works follow our conversion, but do not attain eternal life. Titus 3:4-8

(2.)Judgement, being a legal term, is generally understood by most men. Simply put, it is a legal decree, or sentence given by a judge.God, being the ultimate judge, will one day judge every man by his deeds -- whether they be good and righteous or whether they be evil. Herein lies the most wonderful truth about Christianity. When any person repents of his evil deeds and accepts Jesus as His savior, he immediately is judged righteous by God because of Jesus. Therefore, the judgement of God against evil is cancelled against that man. He will not be sentenced to hell nor is he unrighteous any longer. If we belong to God, we can now approach the Father through Jesus. We are accepted as righteous and our prayers are heard because of Him. Therefore we can boldly ask for the things we need.

(3)Equity is fairness or justice. It means to be fair, straight or right. When we trust God and obey His commandments, we are told that we will reap what we sow. When we sow good things, we will receive good things back. However, because there is evil in this world, we do endure some injustices as God's children. Even though we may be persecuted and may not always be treated fairly in this world, we can be sure that in the world to come, God will see that we receive our fair and just rewards. The good path of God's way will always end in blessing. We find that path through His Word, His wisdom and by obeying Him.

These verses tell us that when we have God's wisdom and His Word in our hearts and when His knowledge has become pleasant to us, that we will receive the discretion and the understanding that will keep us in a variety of ways.First of all, God's Word that gives us wisdom will deliver us from evil men. One of these ways is that we no longer desire to hang out with those that have wickedness in their hearts or speak froward things.What does "froward" mean? It means contrary, adverse or unfavorable. Verse 12 tells us, if we listen to the wisdom of God and obey His Word, even men that speak froward (contrary, adverse, or unfavorable) words against us, will not be able to hurt us.One of the temptations when men speak against us, is to retaliate with ugly words. In fact, one of the things that destroys many marriages is couples that continually argue with railing words for railing words. What is the wisdom of God in circumstances of accusations made against us? 1 Peter 3:8-12

Verses 13-15 describe those kind of people who leave the right path of God's love and begin walking in darkness.Then, they become blinded to the truth. This takes them the next step into evil -- they begin to rejoice in their evil ways and delight in the way of the wicked. Their ways become crooked.Today we call them crooks.They end up going down the wrong path and are lost. We must pray for all those that we know who are walking in the wrong ways. And we must especially pray for our brothers and sisters in the Lord who fall into the trap of railing, or speaking wrongly against us. We must attempt to keep the peace and walk in kindness regardless of where they are walking. They may be guilty for what they are saying against us, but we will become guilty in a different way if we retaliate. We must choose to walk in love.