Righteousness is a very big word in the Bible. It goes a long way in defining all that pleases God. Let’s think about it. It seems to me to have two parts in scripture:
(1) Being righteous is a position before God of having been made right with God by God himself. God does this in response to an act of repentance and trusting prayer that says to God, in effect, “I turn my back on my answers for my life. From now on I trust in you, God, to make me your friend.”
(2) The second part has to do with the evidence of having been made right with God. That evidence is that a person God has made right with himself, that is, a righteous person, increasingly rejects pride, covetousness, and sensuality.
To walk in pride is to walk in self-asserting self-regard.
To walk in covetousness is to desire for yourself something God has not given you.
To walk in sensuality means to constantly focus time and attention on anything that feels good.
The “righteous” are those who
(1) clearly see in themselves pride, covetousness, and sensuality;
(2) they know that without God as their help and friend, they will not get free; so
(3) they constantly recommit themselves to doing whatever it takes to be true to God and their friendship with God. They keep turning back to trusting God no matter what and never quit turning back regardless of how defeated they may feel at times.
