What do you think about when you hear the word “righteous”? Someone who is upright and law-abiding, someone you can count on to do the right thing? It used to be a dude’s compliment: “That guitar solo was righteous, man!”

Or, perhaps, you tack on a common modifier to make the term: “self-righteous,” which rots away anything good about the word.

How do you become righteous; how do you participate in righteousness? Then, how do you avoid being self-righteous?

We have two contrasting scriptures for Sunday. In 2nd Timothy 4:6-8, Paul speaks about the coming end for him and how he has kept the faith and risked everything for the Lord. He is confident that God considers him righteous.

But also, Jesus tells the story [Luke 18:9-14] of one who is confident that he righteous, especially compared to a tax collector! That is a no-brainer, actually. A tax collector wrung money out of his countrymen in order to pay for the Roman occupation. He is a traitor. The very essence of the term “sinner.”

If the Pharisee was wrong to call himself righteous, is Paul equally as wrong? Why is the tax collector justified?

By the way, Sunday is celebrated by Protestants around the world as Reformation Sundayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformation_Day. How does that affect how we view the matter of righteousness?

As always, I would really love to get your comments or questions — ahead of time or afterwards. Just click here.