I like to read Proverbs. It is full of life lessons and guidance. Many of the passages refer to being “Righteous.” For example,…the eyes of the Lord are on the Righteous…the Lord delivers them from their troubles…the righteous will inherit the land….the mouths of the righteous utter wisdom….

So what is meant by “the Righteous?” In worldly terms, righteous means “good conduct” or “virtuous”

In the Bible, the apostle Paul clarifies God’s meaning of “righteous” in Romans 1:17 “For in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last. As it is written “the righteous will live by faith”. NIV

The answer to the question “What is meant by righteous?” is, We are righteous by faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ who saved us. Faith in this Gospel is what makes us righteous, not our good behavior or virtue.

Dear Lord, Thank you that we know that we are righteous, right with You, through our faith in Your gift of Salvation. Help us live by faith to do Your will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Throughout history, there have been people who have made incredible contributions to all of us. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Jonas Salk, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and many others. However, their contributions are insignificant compared to the actual creation of the universe.

Psalm 124:8 says, “Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

The Psalm sounds so simple and understated, but God created all the intricacies of science and biology as well as the vastness and majesty of the universe, and the psalm says he is our “help.”

Do you think there is anything God cannot do?

Simple little verse tells us that the incredible power of the creator of everything is there for us.

Dear Lord, we cannot begin to comprehend your power. Help us remember you are there for us, which unlimited capability to do anything; and help us remember to ask for the help you promise. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Is there someone and someplace that just makes you happy even thinking about. For example, walking on the beach with your spouse, playing games around the table with your children, playing with your grandchildren, spending time with your friends, or even playing with your dog or cat. Just being around them brings you a feeling of joy.

In a similar way, Psalm 16:11 says about God, “… in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” When we can truly experience God’s presence in our lives, we can feel the peace and joy that He promises. In order to get closer to God’s presence, we do like James writes in 4:8 “Draw closer to God and he will draw closer to you.”

Dear Lord help us do those things that draw us closer to you, reading your word and putting it into practice, that we may experience the fullness of joy you promise. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.

One of the challenges we have, at times as Christians, is understanding what God wants us to do with our lives. Sometimes it seems so clear, and other times, not so much.

Jesus says to the disciples in Matthew 10:39 (NIV version), “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” The Message translation gives an interesting variation, “If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.”

I found the Message translation to be a very helpful way to interpret this verse and to determine what God wants us to do. If we focus on demonstrating our love for God by following His direction, spelled out in the Bible, loving others, and sharing the Christian message of hope, other parts of our life will come along.

It is a bit like tuning an instrument, like a guitar. On a guitar, you can get one string in tune, then play the same note on that string and another string in order to tune the second string. If the notes are very close, but not exactly in tune, there is what is called “dissonance” between the sounds. The dissonance can be heard as an uncomfortable tremolo or “beating” sound; As one of the strings is tuned closer and closer to the other’s pitch, the beating gets slower and slower and eventually goes away, resulting in one nice sound, in unison.

As the verse in Matthew says, when we adjust ourselves to God’s standard, the dissonance goes away and we are in unison with God’s will.

Dear Lord, You have a plan for each of us. Help us remember to tune our plans to your will and we will accomplish both. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Another wonderful sound of unison is with my wife Liz, as today is our 29th anniversary. Solomon wrote in in Proverbs 4:18, “Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.” I am incredibly blessed to have such a beautiful, confident, caring, faithful Christian wife! Happy Anniversary Liz!