Do You Want To Be Right
or Do You Want To Be Righteous?

by Olga Hermans

Have you ever been in a situation in which standing up for your rights meant stepping out of the will of God? People are crying out for their own rights in the streets. The western world has become a performance-oriented people. It looks like everybody is consumed with making sure nobody violates or breaks their own rights.

We should be very thankful that we live in a country where we can exercise our own rights and that we live in a country in which we are guaranteed certain freedoms by our constitution. But what do you do when you encounter a situation in which standing up for your own rights means stepping out of the will of God?

I believe that the time is coming where we as believers are going to be faced with such decisions; decisions that demand that you choose between “rightness” and “righteousness.” The choices that you will have at that given moment are going to determine for a great deal how your destiny will turn out in the time ahead.

It is important that you will embrace your destiny and pursue the righteousness which is of God, through faith rather than needing to be right all the time.

Do you know somebody in your own circle who wants to be right all the time? Someone who just keeps going until you and everyone else know that they were right all along? That’s what rightness is. On the other hand righteousness is a virtue and refers to uprightness. Righteousness holds the basis of your “rights” or “benefits” with God.

When you have God’s righteousness, you have the right to forgiveness of sin, the right to healing, the right to the presence and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, the right to success and the right to security.

These rights were granted to you because God loves you that much and because of His mercy; you didn’t do anything to earn it or to deserve it. It’s all because God loves you and me; He gave it as a gift to us.

I have always wondered why so many Christians are not enjoying the benefits of their righteousness, which means that we are still ignorant of it. If that would not be the case, we would use all these benefits or promises to our advantage.

When we are ignorant of our righteousness in God, we don’t know about the promises to which we have a right. The consequence then is that we will make an effort to establish our own righteousness or rightness.

I have heard many people share a story of a situation where disagreement occurs with someone over a business transaction. The situation might be that you were cheated out of some money. God tells you not to worry about it and that He will take care of it. You have to make a decision at that moment.

Do you do whatever is necessary to prove that you are right? After all, you have been cheated!  Or do you stand in the righteousness of God and trust Him to move on your behalf? The first choice is pursuing your own rightness and the second choice would be that you choose for righteousness.

When you choose for your own rightness rather than righteousness you are concerned with being correct in the eyes of the people around you. When you choose for righteousness; you are definitely concerned about what God thinks and the opinions of people around you don’t matter.

The first choice: rightness is mostly self-centered, because it is all about you. You think you have to defend yourself because you want to look good before man in order to feel good about yourself. You make it very difficult for yourself because you have to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong.

Rightness seeks self gratification and approval from God through good works. In contrast, righteousness recognizes that you are accepted based on what Jesus has done through the shedding of His blood on the cross.

Righteousness on the other hand seeks to please God rather than self and the only way to do that is by faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith. When you keep choosing to prove your own rightness to other people, you leave God out of the picture and you’re on your own. At that moment your door is open for the devil and for anything that he wants to throw at you.

But when you seek God’s righteousness first and foremost, God is committed to back you up every step of the way. The first choice puts you in bondage to other people, while the second choice sets you FREE to serve a loving God who loves you so much more than you can ever imagine. He will take care of your reputation, He will back you up and your reputation will be stronger and better than ever.

A good reputation is very important. I’m just saying that you don’t have to run around trying to defend yourself when people accuse you falsely or tell lies about you. We all have enemies. Just don’t get your eyes on them. Keep your focus on the One who is sitting on the throne in heaven and know the Almighty God Who is taking care of you!

It is such a joy for us to be able to trust in the Lord.
Knowing that His eyes never leave us and that He is always there to defend us and fill our heart with excitement!
He has set us apart to bless us with His abundance and surrounds us with His favor as with a shield.
Psalm 5:11

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