Diligently Seek Good: Flourishing in Righteousness

Due to our sinful nature, it takes an effort to choose right over wrong; to do good instead of evil. The easy way is the way of the natural man—always bent toward evil. I remember complaining to my mother when I was a girl that I was tired of being good! It took a lot of energy, and often brought ridicule from friends.

Perhaps this is why our words of wisdom for today caught my eye. See what you notice.

Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it. Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf. (Proverbs 11:27-28 ESV)

Who will we seek to please?

In my desire to please my parents, I did work hard to be a good girl. Being good brought reward from the adults in my life, even if friends sometimes called me a “goody two-shoes”. Though their words stung, the favor of my parents won out for many years. However, it would be in high school and college that I realized that the second portion of that sentence also held true. When I did what I knew to be against my parents’ wishes or God’s desires, evil was easy to find. Boy, did I get myself into some pickles, and I’m quick to confess that the Lord ultimately saved me from myself and my stupidity.

This is why the wisdom of this verse comes with the adverb “diligently.” It’s not enough to want to do good or simply to seek good, but we must do so with diligence. It takes energy, willpower, and extra concentration to choose good over evil, right over wrong. It doesn’t matter how old you are—it doesn’t get easier. Why? Because someone is always lurking in the shadows to knock you off track.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8 )

As an older believer, I may be much more aware of the devil’s tricks and my own weaknesses, but that doesn’t mean I can let down my guard. Thus the reason we are called to be sober-minded and watchful.

Even the Apostle Paul struggled with doing good!

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:21-25)

Thanks be to God! We have His Spirit within us to help us continue to diligently seek good and to please our Heavenly Father.

True Flourishing

Not only will the pursuit of good lead to the favor of God, but walking in the righteousness we have through Christ Jesus enables us to flourish as believers. Again, it’s a matter of attitude and focus. When we look to this world and earthly riches, any blessing is temporal and ultimately disappointing. It is only in the riches of God’s Word that we find true growth and benefit.

These words of wisdom echo the first psalm.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 1)

This is true blessing—to flourish in the garden of the Lord.

May we diligently seek to live by the good path of righteousness and find the favor of Him who shows us the way.

Grace and Peace

If you missed the last Friday Focus post, click HERE, or start this Walking in Wisdom series from the beginning.