approval : part 1

 

‘For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’

Jesus, Matthew 5.20

What is ‘righteousness’? For a certain kind of person, often drawn to religious frameworks, righteousness has to do with how we act in the world: with performance, that meets with God’s approval.

In fact, righteousness simply means divine approval. It has, in the first instance, nothing to do with what we do (this is not to say that what we do does not matter; simply that if we act with integrity and compassion this flows from righteousness already imputed to us) and everything to do with what God — the god Jesus reveals to the world, the god Jesus calls our Father in the heavens — is like.

‘For I tell you, if the approval you enjoy from God does not far exceed that which you enjoy (or not) from religious people, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’

The good news being, that divine approval is given. God approves of you. God bestows righteousness on you.

Sometimes we struggle to approve of ourselves. And, viewing ourselves harshly, we become quick to view — to judge — others with the same harsh measure.

When we know that our Father in the heavens approves of us, we are released from the prison of performance; and set free to release others from the prison cells we have thrown them into (where, ironically, we found ourselves sharing the cell).