Righteous is a word used extensively in the Bible to refer to the fact that everyone is expected to live perfectly according to God’s will. What does that mean in our current complex world? If God is understood to be the source of all creation and we are assisting with the improvement of life on Earth, then the summary of God’s commandments that Jesus gave can be stated in the following way: As God’s assistants with creation we are to love and, in our limited capacity, participate in the care of all of God’s creation including the Earth, ourselves and all other people. That is what we are being asked to do perfectly.
Some of the things that we do each day are repetitive and those can be done nearly perfectly but there are also things that must be learned and that results in making mistakes. Creative activities are especially susceptible to mistakes. Learning is more efficient in a team environment because everyone is both a student and a teacher and to really learn something, it helps to try to explain it to others. The team environment also increases accountability.
Everyone works more efficiently and contributes more effectively if they don’t have to carry the baggage of yesterday’s failures. The followers of Jesus, serving as Christ’s Team, experience God’s forgiveness and the forgiveness of each other while helping each other learn the challenging tasks that are placed before them each day. Verified by human experience, the Christian life, lived in God’s grace, is the happiest and most fulfilling life anyone can lead.
Robert C. Frank
Author of: Christ’s Team
