Psalm 5:5 English Standard Version (ESV) The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.

At the end of yesterday’s devotional could we hear a song from our youth? “Stand up, stand up for Jesus.” In our youth it meant one thing and now it means more.

Since we were talking about righteousness as being a right standing before God then perhaps it is right to speak to the issues of why we stand in His presence.

Isaiah 45:23 English Standard Version (ESV) By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

On the surface of this passage it seems that standing is the wrong position but in actuality what we are doing or about to do determines whether we kneel or stand. We kneel to make a vow of allegiance, we stand to take orders. Standing is a posture of readiness to move, to walk, to march, and to be in the Way.

Psalm 1:1 English Standard Version (ESV) Blessed is the manwho walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

The wicked will give counsel, but we should obey God and not heed those counsels. Taking a seat and sitting is an indication that the scoffers have something worthy of hearing and that we allow those thoughts to fester in our minds.

Mary sat at the feet of Jesus while her sister Martha toiled in the kitchen. Jesus declared that Mary was doing the only thing that was needed, to hang on every Word of Jesus.

Needful is a personal issue as it indicates what is good for our souls. The Master does not give orders to servants that are not equipped properly to serve His needs. Standing in His presence is an indication that we are prepared to obey His commands.

Self-righteous according to dictionary.com is to be confident of one’s own righteousness, especially when smugly moralistic and intolerant of the opinions and behavior of others.

This is the worldly definition of self-righteous, or at least one of them which is a harsher than some others. The word smug is used in this one and is missing in other sources. Intolerant is also used in this definition and absent in others. A strong abrasive definition often brings home strong resentments to the reader, as it should. No one likes to be called self-righteous.

What is missing in all definitions is the one definition required to complete our understanding. It assumes we all have the same understanding of what the word righteous means. In worldly terms and understanding it means to be right. That thought falls short in what the spirit has to say on the matter.

Philippians 3:8-10 English Standard Version

⁸ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

The Blue Letter Bible renders this bible usage of the term righteous in a broad sense: state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God, the doctrine concerning the way in which man may attain a state approved of God.

The way that we may stand upright before God is to be in Christ by faith. That is righteousness.