Righteous?

Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:16) 

          This week’s prayer focus is righteousness. The verse I’ve chosen isn’t one of the ones provided, but it seems to me to be a place to begin because it’s an irritating verse. Because Abram believed the Lord, God credited it to him as righteousness. This was in spite of his lying to a number of people about his relationship with his wife, in spite of his effectively pimping his wife to two different guys, in spite of his using his wife’s slave as a surrogate mother. He believed God, so he was righteous even though he did these things? But, on the other hand, an atheist who is faithful to his wife and treats others with respect, who never does anything “wrong” except for not believing in God is not righteous? How is that supposed to work?

          If I happened to miraculously always treat you as you want to be treated, you might be tempted to call me righteous. If I treated the next person the same way, but that way was not the manner in which he/she wanted to be treated, that person might say I’m not righteous. There is a subjectivity to righteousness. In theory, then, you could be righteous from the perspective of every person on the planet, but not righteous toward God. However, if you are righteous toward God, while you may not be righteous toward others, you’re probably improving over time.

          It goes back to what was said last week about foundations. If you get the foundation right (righteousness toward God,) the rest of the building can be a little “off” and still stand. If you don’t get the foundation right, it the rest of the house won’t matter, it won’t stand. You can drive you care at the right speed, and obey all the traffic laws, but if you’re not on the right road, you’re not going to get to your destination. If you’re on the right road, you’ll get there, even if you get stopped by the police twenty times.