WHAT ARE YOU FOLLOWING?

PROVERBS 21:21 NKJ 
21 He who follows righteousness and mercy 
Finds life, righteousness, and honor. 

OBSERAVTION: 

If you were to ask someone what they are following in their life, you may get a blank stare.   

We are not accustomed to thinking that way. We don't see ourselves as following. We see ourselves as people who make things happen.   

But if we stop and think about it, we are all following something. Maybe you are following money, fame, popularity, or power. Or you could be following pleasure and satisfaction. So many are following after happiness and a sense of fulfillment.  

So rather than ask what are you following, what are you pursuing in life? What are you going after? 

The challenge with pursuing or following money and fame is you can never obtain all you want, and it's never enough. People pursuing happiness are finding that it is elusive. The harder you pursue, the less you find.  

But this proverb gives us a better way. We all want more out of life. We all want to be respected; we want to be the right kind of person. So here is what we follow. Here is what we pursue. Not the honor and respect, not trying to wring all we can out of life but following two things. Righteousness and mercy.   

Can it be that simple? Yes and no. If we follow righteousness, then we are in pursuit of what is right in God's sight. We are going after the things that please Him. This pursuit will put us on right paths and a sense of fulfillment. Plus, if we pursue righteousness in God's kingdom, all the other things will be added to us. (Matthew 6:33) 

And if we pursue mercy, then we will be treating other people the right way. In pursuing mercy, we are sowing mercy seeds. And we will reap mercy back into our lives.   

APPLICATION: 

This really boils down to sowing and reaping. If we sow seeds of righteousness and mercy, we will reap life, spiritual life, righteousness, and honor.   

So when an opportunity arises for us to be harsh, we respond with, no, I'm not following that. I am sowing mercy. When we are presented with the choice of a clearly wrong way, we pass on that path and do what is right before God.   

In acting this way, sowing these seeds, and following these paths, we'll find life, righteousness, and honor.   

Easier said than done, but totally doable. With God, all things are possible.