1 Peter 3:12 (a) II — Confession

“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous …”

Summary: In which we revisit 1 Peter 3:12 (a) and further explore the topic of righteousness. 

The “First Rule of Holes” is that if you want to get out of the hole you are in, stop digging! This is always a good rule to follow. Today, I am going to make an exception and dig a little deeper. 

To begin with, I have a confession to make. For most posts, I try and simply “listen” to the passage we are focusing on for the daily meditation. Something always comes to mind that seems to illustrate the passage and I go with that. What I have to confess is that I came to today’s passage with an agenda. 

What that means is that I was using this passage as an excuse to promote a viewpoint. That is something I don’t like doing. I prefer to let God’s Word develop its own viewpoint. But, with this passage, I came loaded with some baggage that I didn’t tell you about. 

So what was the baggage? I have an idea in my head that righteousness is achievable by people. I was mentally arguing with the proposition that people can’t achieve righteousness outside of Christ in this life. The question, “Do the eyes of the Lord have anyone to look at?” seemed like the perfect jumping-off point for a discussion like this. So I jumped. As soon as I hit the water I bumped into Rich’s comment about a righteous person doing something wicked and reacted by being rather contrary. That wasn’t very righteous of me. 

So what have I learned? I guess the first thing I learned is that righteousness is a bigger topic than I gave it credit for. 

The second thing is that we need to be careful about using the word righteousness. Like a Swiss Army knife, it comes with tools for several different functions. 

For a Christian, the most important use of the word “righteous” is to describe the gift of eternal life Jesus offers us by the power of his sacrifice on the cross. The second use of the word describes how a person lives their life. James writes, “You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.” (James 2:24) 

The challenge, as I see it, is that because we use the same word for both meanings, we tend to overlay the two meanings in our minds. This has been especially true for me as I have worked through both James and Jude in this blog. 

So what did I want to say that I couldn’t seem to get out of my head during the first post and the comments that followed? (This is the part where I keep digging!) 

First of all, what I want to say is that a person can live a righteous life. The Bible seems to confirm that there have been people throughout history that are considered righteous. 

The second thing I want to put on the table is that there are benefits to living a righteous life. The ones that Peter points out in the verse we are studying is that the Lord looks out for the righteous and is attentive to their prayers. 

Now the question that comes to mind is what kind of righteousness is Peter referring to? Is he talking about the righteousness of Christ or the obedience of the righteous that James talks about? To answer the question, I want to share a personal story which means that this post will probably be a bit longer than three minutes. I hope you will hang in here with me until I can get through this. 

Last year I injured my right arm and tore a tendon. Then, later in the year, I injured the same arm again by tearing the rotator cuff. It wasn’t a good year for that arm! After seeing my doctor he confirmed the loss of motion and prescribed physical therapy. Shortly after I started and began a very interesting journey. 

The therapist first assessed my condition. Then he began a series of treatments that consisted of two things: Things I had no control over, and things I could control. The things I had no control over were done to me. They included ultrasonic treatments and massage. The things I controlled were how faithful I would be to the exercise program he outlined for me. 

What I hadn’t realized was that years of sitting at a desk had taken a toll on my body. I soon discovered I was getting muscles in places that hadn’t had muscles in a long time. The exercises were changing me. I marvel at how patient the therapist has been during the six months I have been having treatments. He began with simple exercise routines. They used easy motions and almost no weight. Later, he added more exercises. Now I have a fairly involved regimen of exercise with moderate weights. Through all this, he never rushed. He was always patient. 

So how does this relate to righteousness? 

For me, it comes back to the heart. Only God knows the human heart. I can’t judge anyone else and I think it would be wrong of me to even think about trying. So let’s take judging hearts off of the table. What we have left is the guidance offered by the words in the Bible and the whispers and prodding of the Holy Spirit. To use my therapy as a metaphor, once we walk in the door of faith and meet our Savior, Jesus, we become his patient. Rarely is a person completely changed all at once. Instead, Jesus claims us for his own and then starts to work on us. The thing is, if we are to get better, we have to do the exercise.

In Rich’s last comment he mentioned the heartache of helping men who are struggling with pornography. He asks, “Can a child of God struggle with addictions or sinful habits?” He answers his question with a “Yes,” to which I say, “Amen!” In fact, I would venture to guess that we all struggle with sinful habits. If we aren’t, then it may be because we have been ignoring that plank in our eye that Jesus talks about in Matthew 7:3. 

So if we are covered by the blood of Jesus, and we have issues to work through, does the word “righteousness” have any meaning outside of the righteousness that Jesus offers us? The answer, I think, is yes. 

By submitting to the Master Therapist, we find ourselves being changed. The changes are incremental and often so slow that we don’t even notice them, but they are there. Ironically, the person who struggles to overcome an addiction is exhibiting righteousness. I am put in mind of a passage in Peter’s second letter where he writes: 

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. (2 Peter 2: 4-9)

Lot chose to live in Sodom, and yet Peter tells us he was tormented in his righteous soul. Doesn’t that sound a lot like a person who is trapped in addiction and yet tormented in their soul? And if they are tormented, doesn’t that indicate a kind of righteousness all its own? It is at this point that Peter adds one more caveat that is very important. He says: 

This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority. (2 Peter 2:10)

Like my physical therapist who has patiently guided me through exercises and treatments that are restoring the use of my arm, so the Master Therapist, Jesus, guides us through exercises and treatments that restore righteousness. This can only happen if we submit. Yes, that horrible “S” word! If we submit to God’s authority we are on the right path. 

So there you have it. Once again, as Darla pointed out, it is really a matter of the heart. Is the heart pointing to Jesus or pointing to the desires of the flesh? Maybe that is as good a definition of righteousness as we could hope for. 

Application: Look back over the time you have known Jesus. Has he been working on your righteousness? 

Food for Thought: What does it mean to be righteous in today’s world?