Jesus-Followers Practice Righteousness

I’ve been asked several times, now that Arizona Christian University has begun, and I am not there, how I am doing with my “semi-retirement.”  That’s a hard question to answer.  I found myself with a little achy, empty hole in my heart on the day I would have normally been heading back to Phoenix for a new year; and, randomly, I still do!  At the same time, over the summer, I had a house full of grandchildren, and was privileged to be involved in some more speaking ministry.  These things reminded me that this is part of what God's new season, for me, is all about. Being “semi-retired” has its benefits.  I really miss the students and my teammates at ACU, but I didn't miss going back to 109-116 degree heat in August.  I do find myself in need of some semblance of routine (which I haven’t fallen into yet), but I thoroughly have enjoyed the leisure of early morning sit-on-my-back-porch-in-the-mountain-cool-with-coffee-and-Jesus time, for as long as I want!  I miss the sense of satisfaction at the end-of-the-day daily ministry, but I am scheduling some little bit of speaking that has a different sense of fulfillment.  So, I still feel a bit mixed… 

In the middle of all this consideration, I’m still carefully evaluating what this new season is going to look like.  I am hesitant to make commitments until I see the direction the Lord is taking us.  There’s still the side of me that wants to just sit in my fuzzy pajama pants and a t-shirt all day, but there’s the responsible desire to be Kingdom-minded and effective, too.  I’m still on the first couple of pages of this new chapter in my story, so I know there is no rush.  However, I’ve always been a fast reader, and I want to see where this story is going…  I’ve had multiple conversations with the Lord about this.

Then, one morning, I picked up where I left off in the gospel of Matthew.  Jesus is calling "followers" (we've talked about that); but then, in chapter 6, verse 1, he starts preaching about “practicing righteousness.”  He says this, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”  I’ve always read that passage in the negative.  Jesus goes on to discuss with his would-be-followers a strong warning in regard to public practice of acts that might be considered “righteous.”  He emphasizes four in particular: sacrificial giving, prayer, forgiveness, and fasting.  It hit me somewhere in the middle of verses 1 – 24 that he wasn’t preaching total abstinence of the practices, just how and where to go about it.  The thought stirred my soul, and started bubbling up inside of me.  At the end of the day, for right now, I know this one thing:  Jesus wants me to go back to the basics.  I am to be about “practicing righteousness.”  He’s giving me an opportunity to sit a little more leisurely in the mornings on my back porch in solitude (as long as the weather allows) and in “pondering & reflecting.”  He’s allowing me to carve out some space for intimate conversations with him, and to strengthen my spiritual well being.  He has reminded me that at my salvation, he gave me the unobtainable gift of righteousness, but righteousness is as foreign to my human nature as it is yours.  Righteousness is like a strange language I don’t understand, or speak fluently.  It is one I must practice; yet, not before men!  So sitting in the quiet on my back porch, or alone in the peace and quiet of my upstairs loft, and in my pajama pants is just fine! I can practice for as long as I want, dressed however I want!  We all need it.  It doesn’t take semi-retirement to go there.  It’s an admonishment for us all; we are all learning to be followers.  So, this one thing I KNOW to be true.  Following Jesus requires a "practice of righteousness."  (Let me re-iterate, practicing righteousness is not for the purpose of being made righteous - I AM in HIM.)  Practicing righteousness simply means setting aside some time to rehearse some of the most basic ingredients that build relationship and help us trust the one who is leading.  Have a great day & a great week....as for me, I'm off to do some righteousness-training.