Grateful to have this article in InTouch magazine this month on God's justice and righteousness. You can read the whole article here. Realized I forgot to post it recently, so rectifying that now. :)
The word righteous has fallen on hard times. When we hear it today, we tend to think of “self-righteous”—a do-gooder looking condescendingly down her nose at all the filthy sinners. When I was a kid, we also used the word for something really inspiring, as in “Whoa, dude! That skateboarding move was totally righteous!” But neither of these meanings is what Scripture has in mind.
To be righteous is to live justly and seek justice. The Old Testament word translated “righteous” is tzedakah, a close parallel with another Hebrew term—mishpat, meaning“ justice.” In fact, “righteousness and justice” are paired throughout the Bible. God makes Solomon king “to maintain justice and righteousness” (1 Kings 10:9 NIV); Job says, “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban” (Job 29:14); and the psalmist says he hopes the king will “judge [God’s] people with righteousness, and [His] afflicted with justice” (Ps. 72:2). Righteousness and justice are born twins in the Bible; it’s a shame we separate them at birth.
Why should we seek justice? Because it’s grounded in the very character of God…