By Pastor Matt Parra

I went into the kids’ room to see what was going on. Shiloh was crying and there seemed to be some kind of squabble happening in there. It was Desmond (8) and Shiloh (4) who I was hearing, and when I opened the door I found them in a sea of blankets and stuffed animals that were strewn all over their brother Benji’s bed. It looked like a little kid’s paradise. Desmond was laying on his back holding Haley, Shilohs’ doll, with his arms outstretched and was kind of talking to her. Shiloh was lying in the opposite direction on her back. Her eyes were red and it looked like she’d been crying but Des looked as happy as a lark. So I asked what was going on and Shiloh screamed, “He dropped Haley!!, and she’s hurt”. My response was, “Haley looks like she’s doing ok sweetie”, to which she replied, “But Haley isn’t a real baby!”, to which Desmond replied, “so then why are you crying about her falling on the ground?”. 

His logic was sound. He was right.. I could tell by the look on Shiloh’s face that she understood what he was saying and she realized her inconsistency. She didn’t have a legitimate reason to be upset. At least that’s what the logic of his comment inferred. Now I can’t be perfectly sure why she was so upset about a doll falling to the floor when she knew it wasn’t a real baby. It may have been that she didn’t like Desmond’s handling of her property? Maybe she has a level of affection for Haley even though she knows Haley isn’t really a little girl? Or she could just have been in a bad mood and was looking for something to be upset about? Whatever the real reason I could tell she was seriously bothered and I didn’t care about how much sense it made. I wanted to find out what was wrong and how I could help. That’s the difference between a Dad and a brother I guess. Being unhappy with Desmond’s disposition towards Shiloh I decided to take the opportunity to pull him aside and explain to him that there is a difference between being RIGHT and being RIGHTEOUS.

The religious leaders in the days of Jesus wanted to be right but they didn’t want to be righteous. They presented themselves as righteous but were ignorant of God’s righteousness. Romans 10:3 Jesus went so far as to say that His disciples righteousness needed to surpass the righteousness of Israel’s leaders or they wouldn’t be entering into God’s Kingdom. Matthew 5:20 

The righteousness of God is the kind that places the wants, needs, and feelings of others first. It is being unconditionally committed to the good of others. “Love is kind, love is patient.. it hopes all things, believes all things”. The fruit of the Spirit is, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Even if God is betrayed and no one keeps their promises to Him, because of His righteousness He will still keep His word to them. Scripture says, “let every man be a liar and still God will be true.” Romans 3:4 When we strive to be righteous is that what we are striving for? To be true to everyone no matter how they relate to us? Not just to be right and to use religion as a platform to exalt ourselves the way the religious leaders in Jesus’ day did. 

My prayer as a Father is that Desmond will “hunger and thirst for righteousness” and that he will love his sister the way I do. Christ’s prayer for us is that we will similarly pursue God’s righteousness, the righteousness that is in Him. My prayer for us, dear Sandy Church member, is that, through His grace and strength, that we will all understand, appreciate, admire, accept, and surrender to the righteousness of God and commit to not just being right like Desmond, but being righteous in Him.