BEING RIGHTEOUS, BEING HOLY! ~ CookingFood.Org

“GENEROUS LENT 2017”

Lenten Reflections

Friday, 10^thMarch 2017,

First Week of Lent

Ez 18:21-28;

Ps 130: 1-8;

Mt 5:20-26.

BEING RIGHTEOUS, BEING HOLY!

Today, the prophet Ezekiel places before us God’s expectation of us. He gives us an image of an all merciful God, to all who repent from sin. And a ruthless God of justice, for the good who turn to evil ways. God does not want a mediocrity, he is not concerned with actions, but with the complete personality of each person.

In the Gospel, Jesus speaks about the Kingdom of Heaven. Entering the Kingdom of Heaven should be our primary goal in life. Too often we fail to see this as an ultimate goal in life. We fail to keep our eyes on Heaven as the primary reason we are here on Earth. It’s very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day satisfactions of entertainment, money, success, and the like.

Jesus gives us one bit of clear direction in this passage above on how to attain that ultimate goal of life – the Kingdom of Heaven. The path He points to is righteousness. Righteousness is being authentic, not fake. The Pharisees struggled with pretending they were holy and good followers of the will of God. But they were not very good at it. They may have been good at the acting job, and they may have convinced themselves and others, but they could not fool Jesus. Jesus could see through the fake covering and perceive that which was underneath. He could see that their “righteousness” was only a show for themselves and others.

If we want to daily keep Heaven as our ultimate goal, then we must also strive to make an honest attempt at holiness. We must daily seek Christ with all sincerity and truth in all the small things of life. We must then let that sincerity shine through, showing what truly lies beneath. To be righteous, in the truest sense, means we sincerely seek God throughout our day and make that sincerity the constant goal of our life.

Prayer: Lord, make me righteous. Please help me to be sincere in all that I do and all that I seek in life. Help me to love You and to love You each and every moment of the day. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.

Holy Habit for Lent: RIGHTEOUSNESS – Lord help me to learn the habit of RIGHTEOUS, May I not be a hypocrite, but a genuine person. Amen.