“There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.” (Proverbs 30:12)
It is enough in this day to appear righteous, to stand on the “right” side of the day’s hot-button issues. But righteousness is not defined by man, what is righteous is what is right in the eyes of God.
Man is full of opinion; God is full of truth. God’s judgment is always true and right. Man is willing to omit facts and add fiction to his narrative. His pride keeps him from seeing any side but his own. His need to be right blinds him. It is not that he cannot see; he doesn’t want to.
And yet, he is convinced of his own purity. He is proud to march forward with those who share the high moral ground with him. But one day and forever, the actual truth will come out. “The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.” (Prov. 12:19)
The word “truth” is meaningless in this day. Men create their own “truth” which they are willing to fight and die for. But God is the author of truth as well as the definer of righteousness. He calls us to walk in His truth, not our own. To be truly righteous we must love God’s truth.
We may look clean and pure and right in our own eyes, and in the eyes of others; but one day soon each one of us will discover how we looked in the sight of God, the Just Judge of the whole earth. Prepare for that day. Hold your life up to the mirror of His Word now. Let it make you clean and right indeed.