What's a Sacrifice of Righteousness? From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Destination? Joyful!

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power…

It’s a great day to seek joy! Grab your coffee and let’s return to the seven sacrifices that add richness of gold to our joy.
Let’s finish up with the first sacrifice, the one of praise. Hebrews 13:15 reminds us that a spiritual sacrifice of praise needs to come from the heart and is prompted by the spirit, which is exactly what happened in my situation instead of me resorting to old behaviors! In other words, we must remember the spiritual part of ourselves in all circumstances! A sacrifice of praise not only stirs up our joy but increases our joy! When we offer a sacrifice of praise, that also leads us right into the second sacrifice, a sacrifice of righteousness.
Sacrifice number two is righteousness. Psalm 4:5 tells us to “offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.”
Well, that sounds a little holy, huh? For me, those eleven words are speaking some serious light into a dark situation that just happened last night! I actually have an emotional hang-over as I’m writing this for you. Have you ever felt like that, a bit beat up and weary? Despite yet another situation rising to the level of an all-out fire, I find that my heart has hardened a bit and I don’t want my heart to melt to make it right!
Whew, I know, that may be a bit too transparent for you but I’m humbled that despite me, He wants to speak to me so He can speak through me.
We will do some digging into a sacrifice of righteousness, but for now, let me share what it is speaking to my heart: See, when someone wrongs you, how likely are you to offer a sacrifice of righteousness? NOT! I guess it’s the equivalent of Jesus’ lesson on retaliation that He gave to the crowd of people on the Mount, as well as to you and me. He says in Matthew 5:39: “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”
Oh, but there’s a mouthful right here. Let’s explore what it means to resist because at first glance, this doesn’t seem to make sense without any digging.
My first thought is that resist can mean to turn away from but let’s see what the Greek concordance says.
Okay, bear with me. First, I find the actual Greek word interesting: “anthistemi,” pronounced “anth-is-tay-mee” and it comes from the Greek word anti. Well, looking at the prefix, I automatically go to anti being against but hold on here; there’s more. The actual definition for this context is: to stand against, i.e., oppose, withstand.” Breaking it down, anti is against, and “histemi” is to cause to stand.
So, what is Jesus telling us? Is He telling us to stand face to face with the one who slaps us on the cheek and offer the other side? Join me tomorrow for the answer!
Seeking to offer a sacrifice of righteousness,

Evinda