Righteousness: The Quest: Day 2.0

Day 2 Early Morning Update

I continued reading James this morning. Coffee was on me. Today was the first day getting up at 0400. I am aiming to wake up early on all weekdays for the next year, barring holidays. Although, I just might get a wild hare and wake early on some of those too. We’ll see. Today we are focusing on righteousness. How do you attain it according to James?

If you read Day 1.0, you will see I mentioned the practical nature of the book of James. I mean to say, James gives us a how-to guide in living a Christian life. That post only covered the first few verses, and a blessing from verse 12. James does this sort of thing a lot. He will touch on a topic in one verse or chapter. We think, Dang! That’s good stuff. ‘Bout sums it up. Then James always comes back to hit me over the head with another verse or three on the same topic. Reinforcement! I really love it. While I have read on, I hate to leave too much on the table, so back to James 1 for a quick survey, then we’ll get on with exploring what he has to say about righteousness.

James, not your best life now

Going quickly through some practical lessons:

• If you lack Wisdom, ask God for it! (with a caveat that you must believe) (verses 5-8) Also, see Hebrews 11:6
• Be satisfied and thankful with your situation. (verses 9-10)
• Verse 12 (see post Day 1.0)
• When we are tempted to sin, it is not from God but from within ourselves. (verses 13-15) Also see Romans 8:1-11
• Everything good comes from God. God does not change. (verses 16-18) See Hebrews 13:8, Malachi 3:6

This morning, going back to chapter 1, verses 19-22 really struck a chord.

¹⁹ Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; ²⁰ for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. ²¹ Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 1:19-22

Inner Goggins

Long ago, when I started running long distances, I used anger to motivate myself. Back before I knew who David Goggins was, I used a similar mental assault technique to his. I have always been a solo runner. Here’s a common scenario: You are out on a country road, 14 miles from home. Your legs hurt, you’re hungry but you hate the food you packed. Your water seems like it’s not hydrating you. If there’s weather, you hate it. It doesn’t matter if it’s the kind of weather you’re used to, or even sometimes enjoy. In the moment you hate it. You start thinking, “I’m going to call the wife and ask for a ride home.”

Sometimes you’re even thinking, “I wish a car would come over that hill and break my legs so I can quit.”

Some people probably have a benevolent angel on their shoulder who whispers kindly encouragement in their ear. Not me. I always used anger. I told myself, in colorful words I won’t print here, just what a lousy, worthless, sinful, piece of garbage I was. (This was often true.) I told myself I was weak, and soft. Now, the fact is, this sort of mental and verbal assault worked. The Monday before my first marathon, I ran 27 miles alone in rural Oklahoma just because I was so afraid I would not be able to complete the OKC Memorial Marathon the following Sunday.

The anger worked. However, it only worked with running.

Berating yourself to Righteousness

I remember really trying to apply the same thing to the rest of my life. Drank too much the night before? Bring on a marathon-length tirade about my failures, inadequacies, weakness. Same for any other failing – yell at the kids? Have an argument with my parents? Treat my wife poorly? Same procedure: attack myself. Linger on it, dwell on it, repeat the harsh words over and over.

Well, I still run long distances, but I no longer use verbal assaults to spur myself on. What happened? I am going to guess sanctification. Christ has made a real change in me. When I am out and I have already run 40 miles, but still have 20+ to go, I can laugh, feel thankful.

The world is not a simple place. Many people face brutal hardships every day. But, if you are wearing have gear, have water, and a trail out in front of you in the middle of a race you paid money to run, the suffering has to make you laugh. You are so free, you can spend your time with a herd of other mental patients running in the dark in freezing temperatures. Why do you do it?

For fun.

Be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger

• Be quick to hear. If you are studying the Word of God regularly, you will find you are quick to hear the truth of God’s Word in your mind. Are you a loser? No you are more than a conqueror. Is your body a piece of garbage? No, you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Are you alone? No, Christ will never leave you or forsake you.
• Slow to speak. There is no real benefit for me anymore in speaking such horrible things to myself. Nowadays, when I hit a wall, I shut off the audiobook. I let myself take in the beauty of the world around me. Trees, water, hills, birds, the trail ahead. A wonderful stillness and gratitude can be found there. Often I laugh. I am not on a forced march that will end in my execution. I chose to be out here.
• Slow to anger. Now this one took the longest time to leave behind. Anger comes so naturally. Perhaps it is even integral to the “Natural Man.” But, I think James gave us a step-by-step guide in letting it go. He didn’t write, Be slow to anger, slow to speak, and quick to hear. That would be out of order. Like most things, this is a process, and I believe it happens in the order James wrote it.

For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Here’s the application outside of running. Cursing myself constantly for my failures might push me to good behavior in all other aspects of my life for a while. But, fact is, there was no lasting change. Wallowing in guilt and shame only makes you liable to fall deeper and deeper into sin. Your focus is only on your failures, your weakness, and your guilt. Your identity becomes a low-down filthy sinner who happens to be able to run far. You are a failure as a husband, father, neighbor. The more you rage against yourself, the worse you become for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Reorient your mind

This is actually all sin. You feel your only righteousness is your hatred of your sinful self. If you are a Christian, and living the way I was years ago, you are denying the promises of scripture. Read Romans 8, Hebrews 13:20-21, Ephesians 1:11-14, Ephesians 2:8-10, 1 Peter 1:13-25. Remember that Christ was sacrificed once for all. (Hebrews 10:1-18) Remember the old has been made new (2 Corinthians 5:17). Remember the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to us!

Reorient your mind toward the great promises of these passages and away from guilt and shame, you will be filled with gratitude and the anger will fall away. What good is it for, anyway? It might get you through a long run, but at the finish line there will just be you and your anger ready for the next attack. James gives us a formula for embracing righteousness: be quick to hear the word of God, slow to speak, and slow to anger.

Time’s up! I guess I’ll get back to 21 and 22 at a later date. Time to exercise!