Gap Between Being Righteous and Living Righteously

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

In Numbers 22, we read about a pagan prophet named Balaam. I’m sure you’ll recall the story of King Balak, who saw the people of Israel encamped near his kingdom and freaked out. He decided to hire Balaam to curse the people of Israel because he realized that due to their high numbers, he would not prevail over them if there was a battle.

So he contacts Balaam through messengers he sent promising to reward Balaam with great honor and wealth if he would simply place a curse on the people of Israel.

I won’t reiterate the entire story here, but please notice in Numbers 22:18, Balaam makes this statement to emissaries the king had sent to him:

Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.

Balaam finishes that statement up with this one in verse 19:

Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.

It must be remembered that back in verse 13, here is the answer that Balaam gave the emissaries:

So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to give me permission to go with you.”

Okay, so why, in verse 19, does Balaam indicate that he may be able to do something after all? And why does he mention if the king gave Balaam a “house full of silver and gold” he could not go beyond the word of the LORD?

Balaam knew what God had previously told him, that he should not go to King Balak nor should he place a curse on Israel. But Balaam was on a fishing expedition here. When he said that if the king gave him a “house full of silver and gold,” he was saying, “If King Balak offers me that much wealth, I’d certainly consider doing whatever I could for him!”

In other words, Balaam was possibly being candid and even potentially duplicitous. Let me briefly use another example that proves this one. In Genesis 23, we learn that Abraham’s wife Sarah died. He naturally wanted a place to bury her body, but he was in a strange land, far from his home, the land of the Hittites. He did what he had to do and offered to buy a parcel of land that had a cave there so he could bury his dead. The conversation he had with the elders of the Hittites was interesting to say the least.

Originally, they gave the impression that Abraham could take any parcel of land he wanted and they would grant it to him free of charge to bury his dead wife (Genesis 23:5-6). Abraham pushed the issue because he did not want any gift, especially for the burial of his wife. He wanted to buy a piece of property outright so no one could retake it later.

Abraham goes to Ephron, the owner of the property he wanted to buy and addresses him. In response, Ephron says, “No, my lord,” he said to Abraham, “please listen to me. I will give you the field and the cave. Here in the presence of my people, I give it to you. Go and bury your dead.” (v11).

Abraham responds by insisting he will buy the parcel of land, not simply take it for free. Ephron’s response here is interesting and even though this may have been the way it was done in those days, with this detailed give and take, the reality is that we learn that Ephron was also a bit duplicitous. As I say though, this could also be due to customs at the time.

My lord, please listen to me. The land is worth 400 pieces of silver, but what is that between friends? Go ahead and bury your dead.

Ah, there it is. Ephron mentions that the land is worth 400 pieces of silver. Why did he mention that? He mentioned it because that is what his heart wanted – 400 pieces of silver in exchange for the plot of ground. This means that his previous grandiose manner in which he offered the land free of charge, was not really true. He actually did not want to give it away but wanted some hard cold silver for it. Had Abraham accepted the offer then, it likely would have become a source of contention later on. So, Abraham, having learned what the price was simply doled out 400 pieces of silver in front of the elders and that, my friends became a binding contract from that point onward.

Back to Balaam…where we see he also sent out feelers to King Balak to feel free to honor him with as much gold and silver as he could in exchange for Balaam’s dealing with Israel. By the way, even though Balaam referred to the LORD as “the LORD my God,” he was clearly not a believer. He was a pagan sorcerer or diviner, one who reads fortunes and tells the future by using demons so his goal would be to “hear” from as many gods as he could. The fact that God spoke to him in a dream or some other way does not indicate Balaam was a true believer.

This was Balaam’s business; how he earned his money. He believed because he could in some sense divine the future, that he could speak with all gods and hear from them. Peter referred to false prophets as going the way of Balaam (2 Peter 2:15). Eventually, God deals with Balaam, who was killed by the Israelites as recorded in Numbers 31:7-8.

Let’s look at one other thing where Balaam is concerned. Remember his ride on his donkey and the fact that the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD and refused to go passed him (Numbers 22:22-40)? It is interesting to me that Balaam heard his donkey talk and actually carried on a conversation with it! The donkey complained because of Balaam’s ill treatment of it and asked why Balaam struck it three times? Without missing a beat, Balaam responds as though talking to another human being. He doesn’t seem to realize that he is talking to an animal as he doesn’t act surprised that she spoke to him audibly.

Finally, the LORD opens Balaam’s eyes and sees the Angel of the LORD blocking his way and he realized that he would have been dead if not for the reaction of his donkey. This is proof to me that there is such a thin curtain between this life and the next. What we cannot see does not mean it’s not there. The amount of angelic beings and demons constantly moving around us and oftentimes affecting the way we think and our actions and words. As an aside, the fact that my wife could have died last week has left me with a huge mix of emotions. The ups and downs are incredible and annoying at the same time. Life can truly be short with unexpected twists, turns and ends.

This all brings me to a few conclusions that I’d like to share with you. First, we are all duplicitous to some degree. Some people are experts at it and their livelihoods depend on being duplicitous. We often call these people con artists and unfortunately, the visible Church is full of them. Christians are supposed to be far removed from all forms of duplicity by having and exercising discernment.

I think of myself and I can so relate to Paul who complained that the things he wanted to do and say he often didn’t because of the sin at work within him (Romans 7:15-25). I tend to be very hard on myself when I screw up. I hate it. Just the other day, I said something in reaction to something that was not as fully charitable as I now would have liked it to have been. Because of that, I beat myself up for most of the day even after making amends with the person.

I recall crying out to God that I am not what He wants me to be even though His Spirit lives within me, strengthening me, redirecting me and recreating the image of His Son within. It can be maddening at times to see yourself as you are. Even though I know God has declared “righteous” because of salvation. When He looks at me, He sees this righteousness in me. However, being labeled righteous (even by God), is not at all the same thing as living righteously! And therein lies the big problem for all Christians who take their relationship with Christ seriously.

The gap between being righteous and living righteously can be very noticeable and frankly, it can be seriously frustrating, can’t it? If you never experience any frustration between these two realms, I’m going to suggest that maybe you’re missing something. I’m not saying that God wants us to beat ourselves up emotionally when we mess up. However, there should clearly be a time of horror at how duplicitous and sinful we can be. We need to recognize it, own it and repent of it.

The hardest part for me is learning to trust Him to bring me back. I know He forgives. I know He comforts. But Satan is usually right there to condemn me. And you know what? His condemnations of me are often accurate except for one huge fact: God never stops seeing me as righteous whether I feel it or not!

I want to do what God wants me to do. I want to say what God wants me to say. In essence, I want my life to be something that brings glory to Him regardless of the cost to me and I think, if I’m understanding the Bible correctly, that is the epitome of living for Jesus.

I will never be perfect in this life. That will occur when I leave this earth in death. At that point, Jesus Himself will remove all vestiges of my inherent sin nature and will even give me a glorified body, one that is fit for eternity. But that is not my lot in life now. I struggle often on a daily basis to please my Lord and my God. I take that very seriously and when I recognize that I have failed I take that very seriously as well.

Balaam did not do any of these things. Though he bragged that he “knew” the LORD God, he did not. He was lying to himself and others because he thought “hearing” from God was the same as “knowing” God. What he did, he did for financial reward and honor from other human beings.

Authentic believers seek honor for God in how we live before Him. This is the most difficult aspect of Christianity, living it, understanding how we are to live and what our approach to God (and others) should be. We need to be reaching out to others because God has reached out to us and it’s not just other people we need to reach out to. God expects us to help where we can help.

Case in point. There are some folks who moved out of their home not too far away and I noticed that they seem to have left a dog behind. The dog hangs around the house and I’ve seen no one there at all. I’ve gone to that house and left some treats for the dog. I’ve called Animal Control and they have gone out. It is likely waiting for its owners to come back.

We have gone back to that house numerous times to feed that dog (and another one that was also there). We’ve alerted Animal Control and they are also checking on it but there is no actual shelter in our county so they cannot trap and keep it somewhere safe.

We’ve tried to keep an eye on the dogs. We went out yesterday and there were no signs of the two dogs. However, we did see a live cat as well as a dead one under the house in the crawlspace. So, we fed the living cat. I’m guessing there are more cats because the house is currently under contract and in the pictures, I counted around 12-14 living cats. It would not surprise me if others are around, no longer being fed.

In fact, there are at least three cats living under the house and still no signs of the two dogs, who have apparently moved on after realizing that no one was coming back for them.

As a Christian, I need to be doing what I can to help the poor and needy. I need to be reaching out to those who are hungry and in need, whenever I can. There are beggars, homeless and the like out there. Can I help them? Instead of giving money, can I give them some food? Can I pray for them?

God does not expect me to help eradicate the poor (because He said the poor will always be here, ostensibly until He physically returns, Matthew 26:11). Yet, in the meantime, I cannot ignore what is right in front of me, thinking someone else will take care of it. To ignore what I can help fix to some extent is to only be righteous, but it is not living righteously.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective