"Flee also youthful lusts; but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Tim. 2:22).
The order of Scripture is everywhere most important, and particularly so in its practical exhortations. So with the passage before us, to "follow faith" we must "follow righteousness," and it is the relation of these to one another that I would dwell on a little now.
It is, of course, in the adoption of it for ourselves, and not in the exaction of it from others, that we are called to "follow righteousness." There are those who imagine that the apostle’s exhortation to the Corinthians_"Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?" (1 Cor. 6:7)_to be really inconsistent with the following of righteousness. They think that we are called to maintain righteousness upon the earth, and that we are therefore morally bound to make war upon unrighteousness; whereas it is grace of which we are the witnesses, as having received grace. Yet this also may be misunderstood and abused.
Suppose I hid a thief from the policemen that were in pursuit of him or refused to give him up into their hands; this would not be grace, but a perversion of it. Allowing a criminal to get away with his crime is not grace since it tends to reinforce his criminal behavior and thus is harmful to him. It would certainly be unrighteousness on my part, for I should be interfering with government which God has established for the restraint of evil. Nor have I liberty to show grace where another’s rights are concerned and not my own. I am only allowed to give up my own rights, never another’s, in order to show grace.
But I am to give up my own rights in order to show grace, as the Lord’s words as to the non-resistance of evil so emphatically enjoin (for example, Matt. 5:38-48). Such words are indeed so little akin to the spirit of the world in which we live, that if we are influenced by this worldly spirit at all, we shall not be able to understand them. The maintenance of rights has all the support of common sense and the general culture, and unless we are ready to maintain them or even demand them, we shall be counted as very strange indeed, if not traitors to one cause or another. The Lord has said, "If My kingdom were of this world, then should my servants fight" (John 18:36), and most of Christendom has decided that His kingdom is of this world.
There is no contradiction between following righteousness and showing grace. Guarding this point, then, it is of the utmost importance to see that in our personal conduct, righteousness is the very first necessity. "Righteousness" defines for the Christian a circle beyond which he cannot go, a boundary line he dare not transgress. He must therefore know precisely the limit, and in no case act until he is sure that he is within the limit. Here is need for continual exercise, for the line is not always perceptible at first sight.
God has denounced an emphatic "Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter" (Isa. 5:20). There must be no blurring of the moral boundary lines. We may not put "faith" before "righteousness." We may not argue, "We believe this is of God and therefore it must be good." We must argue the other way:"We know from Scripture this is good, and therefore we know it is of God." "God is light," and light is that which "doth make manifest" (Eph. 5:13). Thus, only as walking in the light, and with our eye single to take it in, can we walk without stumbling.
But alas! how common it is to allow ourselves to participate in something the character of which is uncertain to us! How many think it enough to stop where they are convicted of evil, rather than first making sure before they act that what they do is good!
Righteousness always acts in consistency with our position and relationships. Thus, to show grace is for a Christian only righteous. The manifestation of grace is not something over and above what is required of us. Righteousness embraces the whole sphere of conduct, for "to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17). How solemn, how searching are such words as these!
Righteousness, then, is the first thing to follow, but it is not all. We are next to follow "faith." "Faith" supposes more than a mere rule of conduct, however perfect. Faith is in a person; not a rule, but a ruler. Faith puts us under a living Leader, from whose love we cannot for a moment withdraw ourselves. The One who has perfect wisdom has concerned Himself with the path we tread, and it is for us to consult that unerring wisdom and to govern ourselves according to the will of Him who is our Master and Lord.
It is in following faith that we find our true individuality before God, for faith is of necessity individual. How earnestly the apostle insists upon this! To induce another to do so innocent a thing as to eat meat, if the other could not eat in faith, was to "destroy" him spiritually (Rom. 14:15-23). Thus the doing of what in itself was no evil and of what in another might be an act of Christian liberty, without faith would be sin and an act of real self-destruction.
What a view of our responsibilities does this open up to us and what a sense should it give us of the necessity of faith in every step that we take in our path down here! "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). We do, indeed, perhaps recognize in matters of greater importance the need of knowing and following the divine will. But life is made up mainly of smaller matters. From how much of our lives, then, we must banish God if we do not seek His will for everyday matters.
Nothing, therefore, must be allowed to interfere with knowing God’s will for our individual path. The Lord has bought us for Himself. He is both Master (Teacher) and Lord. We may help each other in ascertaining His will, but no more. "One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren" (Matt. 23:8).
(From Help and Food, Vol. 8.)