Psalm 85:10-13
Love and faithfulness meet together;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
The Lord will indeed give what is good,
and our land will yield its harvest.
Righteousness goes before him
and prepares the way for his steps.
Isaiah 3:4
“I will make mere youths their officials;
children will rule over them.”
Isaiah 4:1-6
In that day seven women
will take hold of one man
and say, “We will eat our own food
and provide our own clothes;
only let us be called by your name.
Take away our disgrace!”
The Branch of the Lord
In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem. The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire. Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.
2 Corinthians 5:11-21
The Ministry of ReconciliationSince, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Proverbs 16:31
Gray hair is a crown of splendor;
it is attained in the way of righteousness.
Proverbs 20:29
The glory of young men is their strength,
gray hair the splendor of the old.
"Reputation is what men and women think of us. Character is what God and the angels know of us." - Thomas Paine
Christians know that God's laws are the final say on acceptable behavior and that following our own desires can land us in quicksand. But righteousness goes further than merely behaving properly. The standard of true righteousness consists not so much of the outward things we do, but in the inward things we are. God never alters the robe of righteousness to fit us, but us to fit the robe.
Les chrétiens savent que les lois de Dieu ont le dernier mot en matière de comportement acceptable et que suivre nos propres désirs peut nous mener dans des sables mouvants. Mais la justice va plus loin que le simple fait de se comporter correctement. Le critère de la vraie justice ne réside pas tant dans les choses extérieures que nous faisons, mais dans les choses intérieures que nous sommes. Dieu ne modifie jamais la robe de justice pour qu'elle nous convienne, mais nous pour qu'elle nous adapte à la robe.
Righteousness is from above. It is God's holy governance character trait.