Saturday, 2 January 2021

Righteousness and peace

 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. - James 3:18

 

How do we bear and produce and show the fruit of righteousness? What proves our righteousness? Is it warring and fighting and contending? Is it who can shout the loudest?

 

No, the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by the peacemakers.

 

I love the image of righteousness and peace going hand in hand. Sometimes I can associate righteousness with judgement, and it is, at times.

 

But when God has sown the righteousness of Christ in me, I am going to bear the fruit of the Spirit and one part of that is peace. We must live lives that reflect the righteousness of Christ imputed to us.

 

Sometimes though we get righteousness confused with being sanctimonious. We think our righteousness makes us better than someone else and if we are not careful we forget about being the peacemaker and instead take on the role of judge.

We strive to bear righteous fruit for the purpose of bringing peace.

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