November 1

There is No Death in Pathway of Righteousness

“So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous… The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life…In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.” (Proverbs 2:20; 11:30a; 12:28)

I have two dear friends who have lost family members in the last week; I knew one but did not know the other. One was a dear Christian man beloved by all who knew him, who had an active life and died suddenly. My other friend lost her unbelieving sibling, who had a terminal illness and was estranged from the family. One walked in the gospel, on the path of righteousness, and found God’s tree of life, in which there is no death. The other did not and does not have this fruit, which grieves us tremendously. You will receive little from my pen today, as I am occupied with encouraging my grieving sisters in Christ. At these times, Scripture and our faithful fathers of the faith and the Word have much to teach us.

The writer of Hebrews exhorts us with these words: “…show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”(Hebrews 6:11-12) From John Gill we have: “Now the use and profit of wisdom’s instructions, or of the Gospel of Christ, and the doctrines of it, and a spiritual understanding of them, are…to influence and engage them to follow the examples of good men, and to walk in the same good old paths as they have done…and keep [to] the paths of the righteous; not only observe them and walk in them, but continue therein, even in the paths of faith and holiness… for righteous men, such as are made righteous by the righteousness of Christ, and are anew created unto righteousness and true holiness, and in consequence thereof live righteously.” (1) Matthew Henry comments, “The righteous are as trees of life; and their influence upon earth, like the fruits of that tree, support and nourish the spiritual life in many.” (2)

We live righteously, in the paths of the righteous, by depending on and reminding others of the gospel of Jesus Christ which alone comforts our souls and the souls, hearts, minds, spirits, and lives of others. How might you remind your Christian friends their of gospel righteousness today, to encourage them?

(1) John Gill’s Exposition on the Whole Bible, Hebrews 6:12, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/hebrews-6.html

(2) Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible, Proverbs 11:30, https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-concise/