Real Righteousness and True Faith

UV 4209/10000 Real Righteousness and True Faith For I say to you that unless your righteousness (uprightness, moral essence) is more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5 v 20 The Lord weighs our righteousness in His balance and He needs to find that it is more than mere outward or superficial religiousity, a façade like a white washed sepulchre that hides skeletons and decayed bones and bits of flesh setting off a terrible odour. We need to strive for maintaining integrity in our private and public spaces. We should not be compromisers of the truth but live in accordance with the principles and precepts the Lord teaches us. We need to practitioners of our faith and of the teachings of Jesus and not mere hearers or preachers of the word. Our lives have more power, our prayers more effective when we live according to the word. We need to live testimonial lives, testifying to our faith in the Lord and His word and in His goodness and grace. We ought to move from the superficial in our lives to the superlative in all aspects of our conduct, work, discipline, habits, lifestyle, inner life, thoughts, emotions, relationships, goals and priorities. Though we are credited righteousness by grace, we also need to work on our real time character and conduct. Our inner attitudes are reflected in our behaviour. The more the coincidence or alignment between our beliefs, speech and actions, the greater our real time righteousness, the more pleased will the Lord be with us. This is the aspect of working out our inner salvation with fear and trembling. The name of Jesus and our faith in God and Jesus is our passport to heaven but the visa is stamped by our conduct and character. The uni-verse says that we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven without subjecting ourselves to the kingdom of God on earth. We cannot enter heaven without obedience to the Lord and His word. The Jewish scribes made a show of their knowledge of the word of God while the Pharisees made a show of their piety through various dress codes and ritual practices. We need to go much further, do much better to get a welcome by the Father in heaven, to be called by Him, “You, good and faithful servant.”