Overly Righteous? Really?

Pastor been going through Ecclesiastes for a couple of months now...good stuff to chew on, good for the soul. Teaching things of Solomon, the wisest man, about life, living, what is of worth and what is worth walking away from never to return. I am enjoying.
Yesterday, there was a lot of focus on this verse:

Ecclesiastes 7:16
New King James Version (NKJV)
16 Do not be overly righteous,
Nor be overly wise:
Why should you destroy yourself?

As he began by reading the entire passage, I must admit, that is the verse that really caught my eye. The specific words that caught me were the "do not be overly righteous" part. Quickly, my mind thought, "overly righteous? Really?" "What on earth could that mean? How could you be 'overly righteous?"

As he taught, he talked about the Pharisees. If you don't know who they are, they were the religious leaders of the day, those who were VERY righteous, at least outwardly. They kept the law to the jot and tittle and they were making sure that everyone else was too. They prayed loudly with many words on the street to be heard by others. When they saw the very sinful, they would "thank God" that they were unlike them. Hmmmmm, the Pharisees, the overly righteous.

It was then that I knew I had fallen into this category on too many an occasion. It was for this reason that I experienced a great chastening of the Lord just over a year ago. That was when I was offended by something someone had done to me and then furthermore something they then said to me, I heard myself utter the words outloud: "I am glad I am not like them".

Whoa!! It was then that I knew that I was what I heard about yesterday, the "overly righteous", thinking so highly of myself, my opinions and the things that I held so tightly to. I felt the rebuke from God through His word over then next couple of weeks, to get the "plank" out of my own eye before I could get the "speck" out of my brother's eye. I was so busy being annoyed, hurt and offended that I lost the love that I needed to have, the grace, and forgot my lowly place.

Sure, that person wasn't necessarily right, or good or correct, but it was certainly not my place to elevate myself to the place of judge and look down on them and make myself better than them. To say, with or without words, "I am better because I don't do that and I don't say those things and I would never be that way!!!"

Have you ever elevated yourself to that place of the "overly righteous"? Held so tightly to the word of the law that you forgot the spirit of it, that being love for my brother? I know I have, and sadly many times. I still do this, passing judgement on what someone must have been thinking when they said "this" or what their motives were when they did "that". When Jesus told us not to "judge" in the Sermon on the Mount, He wasn't saying that we shouldn't say what was right and wrong. He was saying that we shouldn't put ourselves in the place of judge, passing judgement on the intents and motives of the heart, and furthermore calling another evil, while elevating myself in my own eyes, "glad that I am not like that".

As the years go one, I hope and pray to do this less and less. To be more like Christ and less like the Pharisee. How horrible would it be to be known to be "whitewashed" on the outside, yet filthy on the inside? God keep me from that, keep all of us from that!!!!

A verse that has helped me on both sides of the coin, both on the judging and the being judged, come from 1 Corinthians 4:
"2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court.[a] In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God."
Let me be found faithful, let me worry about me, no one else. In my actions, in my heart, in my thoughts about me and my thoughts about others, in all I do let me be this: a faithful steward, a steward to ONE. And let me remember that my brothers and sisters will also not answer to me, but to that very same ONE.

Dear God, give me grace to not be "overly righteous", but simply FAITHFUL, where I am right now, today, this minute.




#211 a fixed treadmill
#212 a jar of jelly in the pantry
#213 that there is grace for me, time and time again
#214 that I can sleep in peace while the Lord looks over our home
#215 for rain, hard and soaking
#216 a little one, beginning to potty train
#217 a washer and dryer in my home
#218 a jar full of sharpened pencils
#219 laughing with my husband, and watching him laugh
#220 that I am not consumed because of His mercy
#221 cold refreshing, clean drinking water
#222 talking with a young, vibrant couple, zealous for the Lord's will and glory
#223 that we can pray, and He hears
#224 that we will one day behold Him, face to face
#225 the same power that is raised Jesus from the dead, is available to us who believe