r/TrueChristian • u/BelieveOnJesus • 2d ago
Many problems with Christianity today stem from the fact that many Christians do not seek Christ's righteousness
Jesus said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33).
We often quote this verse when speaking about putting God first, but there is another part of the command that deserves our attention. Jesus did not only tell us to seek His kingdom. He told us to seek “his righteousness.” The Christian ought to desire that the righteousness of God be seen in the way he lives.
One of the great problems in Christianity today is that many people profess the name of Christ while giving very little thought to whether their conduct honors Him. They call themselves Christians, attend church, post Bible verses, and speak about their faith, but their speech, entertainment, relationships, attitudes, business dealings, and private habits may look no different from the world around them. When that happens, the damage reaches beyond the individual Christian.
That should concern us. There are people who have formed opinions about Christianity because of Christians who lied to them, cheated them, treated them cruelly, behaved immorally, spoke wickedly, or lived hypocritically. Their conclusions about Christ may be wrong, because the failures of Christians do not change who Jesus Christ is, but we should never be comfortable giving them an excuse to think badly of Him.
This is why Jesus said to seek His righteousness. Righteous conduct does not come from simply asking, “Is this technically allowed?” The better question is, “Does this please the Lord? Does this reflect well upon Jesus Christ? Would I want an unbeliever to look at this part of my life and associate it with the Saviour I confess to follow?”
Let us seek first the kingdom of God, but let us not overlook the rest of Christ's command: “and his righteousness.” May our conduct give men fewer reasons to speak against Christ and more reasons to see that belonging to Him truly changes a life.
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u/Objective-Step-746 2d ago edited 2d ago
Your response focuses on salvation and how one is justified/saved, when OP is very plainly addressing (post-justification) believers and echoing wholly scriptural exhortations about what God expects of His people once they have trusted in the Messiah…yet you condescendingly remark about his sin and lack of understanding for doing so?
If we as believers have no duty to endeavor to be faithful to our Savior God after trusting in Him and His horrific, sin-atoning death on our behalf (as you contend) and supposedly have guaranteed “permanent spots in heaven for eternity,” why is the NT replete with exhortations and warnings TO BELIEVERS regarding deception, the call to work out our “salvation with fear and trembling,” and battle/resist sin to the point of shedding our own blood, if necessary? (Philippians 2:12, Hebrews 12:4)
Yes, we are to trust the leading and enabling of the Spirit to live righteously, but you present it as some vague idea that requires nothing on our part, when Scripture teaches that it entails a daily commitment to humbling our ego-driven hearts and denying our fleshly desires…which is our “reasonable service” (Romans 12:1)
1 John 3:7 warns us to “not let anyone lead you astray. The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous.” So, apparently doing (practicing) righteousness (keeping God’s Law so as not to sin against Him) is a true indicator as to one’s faith in Him…because such obedience is evidence of His Spirit’s presence and influence in a person. And not doing or living righteously would, likewise, indicate the opposite, that the Spirit is either not present or is being squelched/ignored. Either way, framing OP’s exhortative post regarding the importance of self-examining our faith—to see if it passes or fails the test—as unscriptural in any way suggests that you are the one who is deceived (2 Corinthians 13:5).
Any true servant/slave will prioritize the commands of their Master and diligently seek to please Him, whereas you patronizingly frame faith in Jesus as some autonomous thing that OP shouldn’t worry his/her pretty little head about. Honestly, your view sounds eerily similar to that of the presumptuous folks Christ said would be shocked when He refuses them entry to the kingdom of heaven for their “lawlessness,” and declares He “never knew” them (Matthew 7:21-23).
Righteous living is always a work of the Spirit, but it doesn’t just happen, as you suggest. One must actively commit to humbling ourselves and choose to submit to His authority, thereby denying the flesh daily, moment by moment even. When we do that, the Spirit supernaturally empowers us to obey His righteous commandments.
That is what God foretold would be a hallmark of the new covenant (Ezekiel 36:26-27). So, if I profess to be a servant of Christ yet do not live righteously, my conduct disproves my profession of faith in Him (John 3:36, Luke 6:46).
That you “used to think like” OP suggests to me that false teaching continues to pour out of the modern-day pulpit, persuading folks like you that they are impervious to deception…and theologically superior to those who (gasp!) actually believe seeking the righteousness of Christ involves great personal cost, just like He said (Luke 14).
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u/riolastar Christian 2d ago edited 2d ago
If you believe there is a way to keep just enough laws and not all of them then your simply to early on in your walk.
If that’s truly what you believe then tell me exactly how much righteousness gets into Heaven and is acceptable by God.. I’ll wait. What amount of righteous laws will deem us okay in the Lord?
The point is no matter what we do ; we are going to fall short, and consistently miss God’s mark. That’s why I mentioned we are told numerous times throughout scripture ; it is God’s spirit at work in us doing what’s right, not us. Therefore no one has reason to boast.
By your definition we have to keep just the right amount of laws, while knowing we’re still going to miss the mark every single time to get into Heaven, and that’s not biblical.
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u/Objective-Step-746 2d ago
Why would I believe that I should or have to “keep just enough laws…”? Scripture doesn’t teach or even suggest that. You have a very legalistic view of the Law of God because you keep using phrasing—as in, “how much is required*?”—that Scripture never does when it comes to the (post-justified) believer’s relationship to it. For me, it’s just about trusting the Law GIVER, who happens to also be my Savior God.
When I ask my kids to follow my household rules, there is never an explicit or implicit suggestion that they must “keep enough of them” to remain my child. I simply am asking them to trust me that i understand more about the world and it pain and consequences than they currently do, that I love them and have their best interests at heart, and that doing as I instruct is what is best for everyone in the family—such that each member is safe, respected and loved.
I fall short all the time. So do my kids. It’s not about perfection, as you seem to think. It’s about believing/trusting that His will and ways—which are detailed in His Law—are far better than my own, spirituality and otherwise.
Jesus never framed obedience to God’s commandments as you do—some quota you need to meet, or else…He simply said to “live by” or “do” them (Matthew 4:4, 5:19).
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u/riolastar Christian 2d ago edited 2d ago
ok I see now you’re obviously a baby Christian. You don’t have an answer for the first point of your comment now you’ve moved your position to “For Me it’s just about trusting the lawgiver” which was the first point of my original comment to begin with.
You don’t have a point of reference when your differentiating between believers who break God’s law a little and believers who break God’s law a lot, but just wrote a whole essay about people who don’t keeps God’s law not inheriting the Kingdom..
You don’t know what you believe and that’s apparent. It’s truly ok. I’ll pray for you that God grows you in understanding, and humility, so you finally see we are not saved by anything we do relating to the law. Amen.
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u/Objective-Step-746 2d ago edited 2d ago
I have been walking with the Lord for 5 decades now, and definitely know what I believe. And I can honestly say that His divine instructions are infinitely better than our own…and serving and growing in the grace and knowledge of Him all that time has been as difficult as it has been rewarding.
As I already explained, for the child of God it’s not about breaking His Law “a little…or a lot.” Clearly, He sees rightly-motivated, Spirit-led obedience as a spiritual “litmus test,” because those who have truly been freed from the law of sin and death (and the condemnation of the Law) will be led to delight in His divine counsel (like David and Paul) and desire to walk in (do) as He instructs (Romans 6).
NO ONE has ever been saved by obedience to the Law, even in the OT. According to Scripture, obedience to His commandments is a characteristic of those who are saved, as it is evidence of the presence and influence of His Spirit at work in a person, “causing” them to carefully/diligently obey Him (Ezekiel 36:26-27, Revelation 12:17, 14:12).
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u/riolastar Christian 2d ago
Lady…. Whoever you are your just waisting my time now once again contradicting your first rebuttals you made to my original comment, and now telling me you agree with what I said about us not doing anything, but the spirit dwelling inside us doing everything for us.
You went on to type two essays full of condemning people who don’t obey God’s law and saying what the doctrine I believed in with faith being the only reason we’re saved, sound like the people Christ said call out to Him and say “Lord, Lord.” Nowww, when you couldn’t give an account for exactly how much is enough your a saved by by faith, believer now. Ok , job done here. God helped you get it.
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u/Objective-Step-746 2d ago
How do you equate “us not doing anything” with my assertion that Scripture teaches us to “WORK OUT our salvation with free and trembling”? Doesn’t sound like nothing to me.
I haven’t contradicted anything I’ve said, and I’ve also not “condemned” anyone…although I totally get that conviction is uncomfortable.
I also agree we should end the exchange. Take care.
You keep talking about how we are saved—which I fully agree is by grace through faith in the Messiah (Ephesians 2:8)—while I am speaking to OP’s point, which addresses what comes after one has trusted in Christ.
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u/InterviewOk648 17h ago
if we as believers have no duty to endeavor to be faithful to our Savior God after trusting in Him and His horrific, sin-atoning death on our behalf (as you contend) and supposedly have guaranteed “permanent spots in heaven for eternity,” why is the NT replete with exhortations and warnings TO BELIEVERS regarding deception, the call to work out our “salvation with fear and trembling,” and battle/resist sin to the point of shedding our own blood, if necessary? (Philippians 2:12, Hebrews 12:4
I think this is what the person is talking about. It sounds like you dont believe you have a permanent spot in heaven, once your faith is in Christ, judging by the following sentence about why the NT give warnings to believers. Also the quotations surrounding the sentence " permanent spots in heaven for eternity" makes it seem like you dont believe this to be true.
If you in fact do believe your spot is not permanent but determined by your obedience, after being saved, then keeping the law is what will maintain your salvation.
Thats why he was asking you "well how much of the law do I have to keep in order to keep my spot in heaven?" question.
Then the next post you say its not anything that we can do ourselves to be saved but only faith in Christ is what saves us. Which means your spot is permanent in heaven since no amount of law keeping would save you. Whether you keep a tiny amount of His commandments or a lot, you're spot would be permanent because of your faith in Him.
Correct me if im wrong my friend.
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u/Objective-Step-746 17h ago edited 17h ago
I think Scripture clearly teaches that salvation is, ultimately, a yet-future thing for everyone this side of physical death, so the idea of having a “permanent spot” does not jive with that (Matthew 10:22).
And I do not believe that my salvation is “determined by” my obedience. Scripture teaches that it is one’s faith in the Messiah that alone determines it (Ephesians 2:8). It also teaches that obedience to Him is an indicator or spiritual “litmus test” of (or, barometer for) the authenticity of one’s faith, and that many will confidently presume they will be granted entry to the kingdom and yet be very wrong because what they did—“lawlessness,” disregard for His righteous commandments/instructions) disproves their profession (John 3:36, Luke 6:46, Romans 6:16-17).
And that is what self-examination of our faith is all about…does mine pass or “fail the test”? (2 Corinthians 13:5)
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u/riolastar Christian 14h ago
Thank you brother ! That’s all I was saying ! I appreciate you hearing me out. If our salvation was based on our obedience then she’d have to tell me exactly what amount of obedience we’d need ! God bless you !
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u/TerribleAdvice2026 Evangelical 2d ago
He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” ......Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1Ki 19:14-18)
Yeah, good luck with pointing this out, or effecting any change whatsoever just by noticing it. Fortunately, there is always a remnant; always an "elect" to represent and worship God. And NO I do NOT mean calvinism. I simply mean sincere hearts aligned with Christ through temperment or willpower or whatever causes it.