Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Romans 3:20

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 25:34-40

Biblical righteousness is really amazing, it looks nothing like righteousness as the world sees it. In fact, the righteousness that God is looking for is such that merely doing what he asks and nothing more is not enough; the righteousness of God is such that it changes us and we become someone who would do good without thinking about the minimum necessary effort needed to be “safe”.

I am all for sticking to your job description. But when it comes to doing good, we should do for the “least of these” with no hesitation, because nobody’s getting into Heaven on a technicality. If we want to become righteous people, we must move past the guardrails of the law and along the path God has set in front of us.

Ethan Kirl