Right Or Righteous?

"The Sermon on the Mount is a dividing message. It makes you either want to climb the mount of faith or run from it. Christ's words outline just how difficult the journey can become. Guard your personal relationships. Give with abandon. Forgive. Forgive. And then, forgive some more...

"It's backward thinking. Embrace those who hurt others. Love those who hate. Yet in the kingdom of God, it makes sense. Jesus goes on to explain why: 'In order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven'...

"It's precisely in those points we're wronged, those moments we partake of the cross, when we have no obligation, when it's not comfortable, that Christ quietly gives us the opportunity to be more like Him.Maybe it's a bill you don't have any obligation to pay. Maybe it's a workplace problem you have no reason to overlook. Maybe it's a person who only knows how to wrong you in words or action. Maybe it's not what's been done, but what's been left undone. Whatever the reason, whatever the source, the invitation remains - to be right or to be righteous."

- Margaret Feinberg, in Deeper Walk Vol. 2, pp. 58-59