Sayre Woods Bible Church

He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor. (21:21)

I like verses which summarize and simplify what it means to follow God. This is one of them. We are called to pursue righteousness and love. It is interesting that the verse does not say, “He who is righteous and loving finds life, prosperity, and honor.” Instead we are to pursue these things. The implication is that we never “catch” righteousness and love. Righteousness and love are always one step ahead of us, always pulling us to greater and greater heights. In other words, we always have room for growth. We can never say that we have “arrived.” Instead every day is a fresh pursuit, every day presents me with different opportunities and challenges to grow in righteousness and in love.

So what are righteousness and love? Righteousness is, quite simply, doing what is right in God’s eyes. It is living in conformity to His will. And what is God’s will? To love–to love God with all our heart, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. So the two are inseparably tied together. The Pharisees in the NT missed the boat because they tried to pursue a righteousness apart from love. Today people often miss the boat by trying to separate love from righteousness. You can’t do it. That which is out of conformity to God’s Word is not love no matter how you slice it.

So each day I am to pursue righteousness and love. That’s it. That’s the summary of the godly life. That’s the measure of my day. In reality, each day I pursue something. Something compels me. Something motivates my actions. It can be people pleasing, selfish ambition, money, duty, fear, pride…or a simple desire to live rightly before God and to love Him and others. I may not obey and love perfectly…in fact, I know I won’t. But if it is my pursuit, my desire, my direction, then God says that I will find life (His life), prosperity (His riches) and honor (His blessing). That’s quite a promise!