How to Be Righteous in One Difficult Step
“Whoever walks in uprightness fears the Lord, but he who is devious in his ways despises him” Proverbs 14: 2.
Faith and Patience
The reason one must fear the Lord to be upright (or righteous) is that it’s harder to be upright than devious. To walk uprightly is to tread the narrow path. This is not the path of immediate gratification. It’s the road that requires faith and patience.
It’s the course that requires going against the current of popular opinion. And against what comes easily and naturally. It’s the narrow path of affliction, suffering tribulation and trouble (See Mathew 7: 13, 14).
Not only that, but you must enter it through the small gate of groaning according to Strong’s Concordance.
To read Proverbs 14 for context, click here.
The devious person, on the other hand, takes the broad path that is wide and spacious. This path doesn’t require self-restraint, self-control or self-denial. It’s the path of least resistance. That one we mentioned earlier that comes easily and naturally.
The point I’m trying to make in all this is that no one would choose to be upright with its attendant difficulties and suffering unless they feared God.
Be Righteous: He Rewards those who Seek Him
They would have no motivation to take this narrow constraining path when there’s a broad, easy alternative. Unless, of course, they believed “that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” Hebrews 11: 6.
It’s always harder to do the right thing. It requires faith and endurance and fortitude. Ideally, we should always do what right as an expression of gratitude for what God did for us in Christ.
But admittedly, it’s often easier to choose to do the right thing if we believe there is going to be a reward for doing the right thing. And punishment for doing the wrong. And that from God.
To read another post related to How to be Righteous in One Difficult Step, see The Grace of God to this Sinner.