Author: Dr. Mark D. Flattery 

Chapter Seven

Victory Action #4: Live in Righteousness

 

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (I Timothy 1:7).

 

They had what seemed to be the story book marriage. He was the captain of the football team, she was the head of the cheerleading squad. After graduation, they married, had two children, a dog, a beautiful home, and a scenic waterfront vacation home. They had the perfect life: looks, wealth, kids, and respect from others at church and at work. It was perfect! On the

outside. Inwardly, he was working late hours, she became bored with their life, and the kids focused on their friends and video games instead of family communication. They became so busy with life that they neglected their personal devotional time in God’s Word and their church attendance decreased. You’ve heard the story!

The wife decides that her needs are not being met, that she needs someone to flaunt money and praise on her, and commits adultery with a married man. Their secret trysts were soon discovered by her best friend. The husband learns of the affair, drives to the hotel where his wife is meeting the other man and is enraged. He is ready to break down the hotel room door, with a baseball bat in hand, and beat the other man. Fortunately, his cell phone rang and a close friend talked him out of making a huge mistake.

The husband decides that to “show her a thing or two” finds a much younger woman than his wife and begins an affair of his own. He figured that he would teach his wife a “lesson.”

You’ve heard this story of destruction before and so I will spare you more details! The “perfect” marriage ended in divorce. The husband starts living with a woman with whom he was not married. The wife was married numerous times. The children were standing on the sidelines of their parents’ drama, feeling neglected and unloved, and were doomed to repeat this cycle of destruction.

 

Paul’s strategy to winning life’s battles so far was to put on the armor of God, to stand firm, to live in truth and now we consider “Victory Action #4 Live in Righteousness.” There are two points that I want to make about righteousness. First, “righteousness” is positional. When you repent of your sins, accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, you are then forgiven, cleansed, and made into a new creation. Jesus Christ makes you righteous. This new

identity, as His disciple, gains you entrance into the presence of God as a son relating to the Heavenly Father.

Second, righteousness is your choice. While you are made righteous at your point of salvation, you must live a righteous life until you are in heaven and living righteously for eternity. Life brings victories and defeats, mountaintop experiences of ecstatic joy and deflating episodes that feel like you are being water boarded.

You have been knocked to the canvass of life. You are in pain emotionally, spiritually, and even physically. You wonder if this nightmare will ever end! What should you do now? Well, now is the time to take the next step to rebuilding. You must determine in your heart and mind that you will live righteously.

It is not a mistake that Paul instructs you to put on the “breastplate of righteousness.” The breastplate covered the soldier’s chest and protected his heart and other vital organs. Life’s knockdowns either involve directly matters of the heart, such as death or divorce, OR as an immediate ripple that impacts loved ones as a result of issues such as financial difficulties or failing health. The battle you face now is to focus your energies and actions on what your mind tells you is the right reaction instead of responding out of the brokenness of your heart. In other words, standing firm in righteousness means that we choose to do what is right, to live righteously, instead of bringing driven by our feelings and emotions. This is what is referred to in II Timothy 1:7 as “self control” or as other translations state, “self discipline.”

We discussed this earlier, but I want to mention again that you must determine … especially, right now! … that you are going to rebuild your life by living righteously and that mean that you will play by God’s rules. I will mention briefly three examples of how you can live righteously. First, in effort to live righteously, you must believe that God is in control of

your life, your situation, and your future. Romans 8:28 reads, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

In fact, pause right now and personalize Romans 8:28 as your prayer: “Dear God, I thank you that in all things, You work for my good, because I love You and have been called for Your purpose.” Trust me in this: even though you cannot fathom the future, God has His plans ready for you and He will walk with you to get you there!

You may be wondering, “What possible good can result from my tragedy?” While I cannot answer that specifically without knowing why you were knocked down by life, I can respond in general terms. I do know that when you turn to God in the midst of your personal drama, you will discover a depth of relationship with Him that you never knew. God hears the cry of your heart and responds with His presence in your heart and mind as you pray, as you read the Word, as you worship, and as you pour out your heart to Him.

When you turn to God, your recovery and the re-creation of your life will be built on the most solid of all foundations: Jesus Christ. The couple in the story at the beginning of this chapter did not play by God’s rules but instead were ruled by the emotions resulting from a wounded heart. They built their new lives on the foundation of selfishness, pain, revenge, and mistrust. They were doomed to failure the moment they made the decision to play by the rules of the world. Living in the presence of God and following His rules will get out of the darkness of this season and into the light of a new day.

If you have children, you will discover that they are watching and learning how you respond to getting knocked down and how God helps you recover. If you play by God’s rules, then a result of the tragedy is that you are equipping your children to handle life properly when they have their own experiences. This is how the “cycle of destruction” mentioned in our story is broken. You can replace it with the cycle of life!

Second, in effort to live righteously, you can determine to let God fight your battle for you and allow Him to balance the scales of justice. Romans 12:19 states, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” We discussed this earlier but, I will mention again that if you seek revenge then you will never escape the trap of offense. He hurt you, you hurt him back, so he hurts you, and that causes you to hurt him. The trap of offense can cause feuds to fester for decades, hurts innocent lives, and causes people to carry burdens that they should not carry. In fact, what happens is that people are driven by intense hatred and forget the reason for the original offense!

If you allow God to avenge you then you know that the scales of justice will be balanced indeed. If you place yourself in the role of God, then what punishment is appropriate for the hurt and suffering imposed on you? Are you willing to walk with your offender through the process of sentencing, punishment, and rebuilding? I did not think so. That is not your role: it belongs to God!

If you allow God to avenge you then you are freed to focus on you! You can wash your hands of the offender and the offense and begin to rebuild and re-create your life. Leave your offender in God’s hands. Walk away! Only God can change the heart of your offender. Focus on your heart, on your relationship with the Lord, and the future that He has for you.

Third, in effort to live righteously, you must put live rightly! Here is the formula that I was taught about how to living righteously: do the right action, in the right way, for the right reason, and for the right outcome. As I share this with you, please remember that you must choose to live righteously. There will be days when your old nature rises up and screams at you to get revenge, to hurt your offender as you were offended, or to look out for yourself! Instead, ask the Lord to give you strength each day to put on the “spirit of self-discipline” as Paul wrote to Timothy. Living righteously is your choice!

Live righteously means to you will do the right action . . .

This means that you will respond to life’s trials in the ways taught you in the Bible. Using an old cliché, you will take “the high road” every day and in every way. Paul’s winning strategy up to this point applies here! You will put on the armor of God, stand firm, and live in Truth each day and, in doing so, you are doing the right action; the right thing. Living by God’s rules may seem difficult, at times, and it may not bring an immediate result that you desire. But, it will bring a lifetime of reward in the long term. Paul stated it this way, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:7-9).

. . . in the right way . . .

Determine that as you stand firm against the attacks that you will do so in the strength of the Lord. In my personal drama, when I was cast away, I told my three sons that we were going draw the proverbial line in the sand and declare that we will live for the Lord. We then attended church every time services were held; Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night pre-service prayer, Wednesday night prayer service, and even home groups. The “right way” to respond to a single-parent home with three boys was to live for the Lord without turning back, without regret, and without any doubts.

As the head of my home, the “right way” meant that I set the spiritual tone. I would only speak words of blessing about anyone who offended me, or I would say nothing at all. I encouraged my sons to love everyone in the family and to pray that they will hear from Jesus. If I allowed words of anger, bitterness, or depression in my home then I was to blame. I could not

change what happened in the past but, with the Lord’s help and strength, I could determine what happens in the present and lay a solid foundation for the future.

The “right way” meant that I was trusting in the Lord to provide for all our needs; food, shelter, schools, a job, finances, and positive communication and love in our home. The “right way” meant that each day I pray that the Lord equips me to be the best Dad, son, and servant that I could be. I prayed for my sons daily and I prayed that the Lord would fill our home with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Living the “right way” means that we do our best each day to apply the Truths of God’s Word in our lives and homes. Honestly, some days are better than others! There were times when I was tired, angry, or not wanting to express myself in the “right way.” Fortunately, when I did make a mistake, I was smart enough to repent before the Lord, to admit this to the boys, and to ask for their forgiveness. Then, I made sure my inappropriate response was not repeated.

. . . for the right reason . . .

Why should you do the right action and in the right way? Well, I can think of two reasons immediately. First, because you want to bring God glory. Right now, you are hurting. As you read this you might be thinking, “I know that I should want to bring God glory but, all I want is the pain to go away and for things to be the way it was before.” I understand that thought completely! However, you are a believer and, if you could throw off the pain and suffering, you will find that you really do want to honor God in everything that you say and do. You are learning how to deal with suffering and this allows you to capture a glimpse of how Jesus suffered. No one wants to suffer and no healthy person looks to suffer. However, life does knock you down and suffering, on some level, is inevitable. When you are suffering, you benefit greatly if you respond rightly for the reason of bringing God glory. You will understand better

what Christ endured and you will appreciate greatly the victory when the Lord provides. Peter stated is this way, “But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (I Peter 4:13).

Second, the right reason for living righteously is that you love God more than life itself. The genuine test of true love is not measuring one’s heartbeat when you are enamored with another. The genuine test of love occurs when life falls apart, when the feelings are threatened by ambivalence, and when communication stops flowing.

In the book of Job, Satan is before God and makes the claim that the only reason that Job loves Him is because he is blessed abundantly by God. “’Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face’” (Job 1:9-11). But, Job loved God more than life itself. Job had feelings, he was wounded in incredible ways and to the precipice of death, but, “In all this, Job did not sin in what he said” (Job 2:10).

You are rebuilding your life. You must determine in your heart to live righteously because you love the Lord more than life itself. You are not a Christian only when you see blessing, and honor, and miracles. You can stand firm, even when your life seems to be in chaos, because you know the Lord will make good from what was meant for evil. One of my favorite passages in the Bible in Habakkuk 3:17-19, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”

. . . for the right outcome . . .

What is your desired outcome from your current trial? Whether you can return you life to the way it was, or whether you have to start over completely, I believe that your desired outcomes are healing and rebuilding. If you participated in sports in some point in your life, you will remember that true athletes played to win! I know that some played for personal reasons like fame and fortune but, genuine ball players played to win; fame and fortune follow winners! Whatever your desired outcomes are, and if they bring glory to God, then keep that in mind like a finish line before a runner. Then, live righteously so that you can win the race. Paul did that and wrote, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (II Timothy 4:7-9). May this be your outcome, too!

King David wrote Psalm 37:1-9 to teach us in specific terms how we can live a righteous life:

1 Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.

3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:

6 He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.

7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. 9 For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

 

Let’s consider what David wrote.

First, the Psalm tells us, “do not fret.” This means that we are not to worry, to be anxious, or to be envious of those who do evil.

Second, we are told to “trust in the Lord and do good.” You must make the decision to trust in the Lord completely and to act like Jesus at all times.

Third, you must “take delight in the Lord.” This means that you remember the victories God gave you in your past, to praise Him for who He is and for what He is doing now, and to praise Him in advance for the victory that He will bring you.

Fourth, you must “commit your way to the Lord.” You must determine that you will follow Jesus completely and that you will not turn back. You will not compromise your faith and you will do what God’s Word, the Bible, tells you to do.

Fifth, you must “be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” God is fighting for you. He will balance the scales of justice. But, He works according to His timing for He knows

everything. Anxiety and worry do not come from the Lord. You can reject those feelings and instead have peace that God will bring victory into your life.

Finally, we are told to “refrain from anger and turn from wrath.” Getting angry makes your problems worse! Instead, walk away from your anger and allow God to move on your behalf.

In effort to live righteously, you must not fret, trust, take delight, commit your way, be still, and refrain from anger and turn from wrath. You must seek to do this every day, in every situation, and with everyone. Ask and the Lord will give you strength to do so. He will give you the wisdom to know when to be silent, when to speak blessings, and what to do.

The results for your offender are that he or she “will soon wither and die away” and “be destroyed.” However, for you … “He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun (verse 6). The Psalm ends with this promise, ““The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him” (Psalm 37:39-40).

 

As has been stated already, the only person that you can change in your personal drama is you. You must make the choice whether stand firm by living in righteousness or if you will allow the storms of live to toss you around without hope of rescue. I promise you that if you draw the proverbial line in the sand, like Joshua when he declared, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15), then you will be on the road to victory. Playing by God’s rules is the only way that will bring order from your chaos and bring you an ultimate outcome that will bless you and your family for generations.

 

 

For You To Consider

 

1. What must you do to replace “the cycle of destruction” with “the cycle of life”?

2. What emotions, thoughts, and behaviors must you change to allow God to fight your battles for you?

3. What is the “right action” in your personal story?

4. What is the “right way” in your drama?

5. What is “for the right reason” in your current situation?

6. What is “the right outcome” that you should be seeking?

7. Pray Psalm 37:1-9 as a personal prayer.

 

Scripture for You to Pray Today: Galatians 6:7-9, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

 

What is the Lord saying to you right now?