Being upright in a divisive world

Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness;

He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.

A good man deals graciously and lends;

He will guide his affairs with discretion. – Psalm 112.4-5

What is the upright man?

I know we can talk about the virtues of the upright man and his character. The upright man is holy and just and righteous and he does what is right and he fear God and shuns evil and he goes to church and just does right in his religion.

But here we see a few more things about the upright man:

He is gracious

He is full of compassion

He deal with others graciously

He is generous

He lives a discreet life

How many people would see us as upright if this was a measuring rod? There seems to be a tendency today for a lot of God’s people to get entangled in the affairs of the world and when we do that we will often adopt the tools and the weapons of the world and fight the war in such a way that no one can tell is from the ‘bad guys.’

When we deal with the world we must always stand for the cause of Christ and we can never compromise on the truth of God’s word.

But there are other things that we are not called to battle over. There are areas where we are clearly instructed not to get entangled with the affairs of the world. There are times when we are told to avoid wasteful battles and arguments and ever warned that those discussions a will cause us to ‘bit and devour one another.’

In any case, in our daily life and in our discussions and debates (and Facebook posts and our tweets) we might always ask ourselves:

Am I gracious in my words?

Am I full of compassion in my views about others?

Do I deal with others graciously?

Am I generous in thinking the best of others?

Am I handling these issues with discretion?

If those are the acts of the upright, how are doing?