Seeking His Righteousness (Part 2: Whose job is it to make me holy?)

Published by christi on March 7, 2019March 7, 2019

Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be yours as well.   — Matthew 6:33

Jesus does not tell us to produce His righteousness, but to seek it, search for it, go after it. In fact, the command “Be holy as I am holy,” actually means: Be made holy… The verb tense is imperative passive. It lets us know that God is expecting to do in us what He is commanding .

So, if God is making the holiness in us, what is our part in this process?

Is it not to empty ourselves more and more of our independence, our self-sufficiency, to make room for His reign and His power?

This sounds like very pious work… the stuff of monasteries, candles and Gregorian chant! Good  especially for the Lenten season, which began yesterday, and lovely when I can find the time to do it, but mostly my life is full to the brim with mundane things like washing dishes and grocery shopping, juggling conflicting schedules and competing needs. How do I seek His righteousness when I can’t even find the car keys?

In my life it looks like:  Am I doing the dishes and the grocery shopping in my own strength and according to my own plan, or committing to dependence on Him for ALL I need?  When His plan turns out to be nothing I would have chosen — flat tires, baby spit-up, unemployment, cancer– do I rebel or submit to Him?

Saturday I am headed to Mexico with three car-loads of teenagers for a week-long missions trip. I can pack in my own strength, or declare my absolute need for Jesus with every pair of socks. I can rebel against the plan that includes me starting out the week exhausted and sick, or I can declare that all God’s works are good and everything He does is worthy of our praise. I can worry and be anxious about our safety or I can rest myself in the Father’s care and look to Him for the protection that He promises!

Trusting Him makes room for Him to make me holy!

What does letting God make you holy look like? I’d love to hear from you.

Following Jesus every day in the everyday!

Christi