Righteousness, Peace, and Joy

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17 ESV

Every once in awhile, usually on a weekend before getting back to school on Monday, I'll get this inspiration or a longing to 'make changes in my life'. Often when I'm just not feeling like going through another normal week of classes and school that brings stress and a certain frustration at times, I'll have a longing to just somehow enjoy the week. It's kind of hard to articulate I am realizing right now, but what I long for—what I want my life to be filled with and driven by on a day-to-day practical level are these three things found in Romans 14:17. This verse stuck out to me yesterday as I heard it during church.

(1) Righteousness: I desire to live a righteous life. Living a life saturated in sin, whether "big" or "small" (example: pornography vs. gossipping) not only brings guilt and a feeling of uneasiness, but limits your ability to grow in the Lord. It limits your ability to enjoy life, to enjoy the people around you, and steals any type of peace you may have been experiencing before. There is something nice about living a life that can be illustrated through the analogy of being able to drive by a cop and not panic to make sure you're not speeding. Because you have grounded habit and a lifestyle in righteousness and moral uprightness - there's no need for the feeling of guilt; no need to check your speed, because you naturally are doing the right thing; because you naturally are going the speed limit.

(2) Peace: The ability to be "free from disturbance". Peace in the Lord. The second thing that I would want my life to be like, particularly while I'm at school is a life at peace. Why is this such a hard thing? It is hard because, very simply, school requires work. School requires due dates and tedious, unenjoyable labor. Maybe this relates to me at a greater length, because I'm the type of person that is easily consumed with work at hand that needs to be done - and it can easily distract me and take away my joy and peace. The secret of course would be to keep a certain peaceful attitude despite external influence. As I was thinking, there has to be some kind of object or hope that this peace would be grounded in. There has to be a reason for that peace. The reason obviously must be rooted in God. There is no peace without God. There is no reason for having peace without God. A peace in the knowledge of the absolute power and goodness and sovereignty of God; of the fact that Jesus paid it all—that "our sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross and we bear it no more!".

(3) Joy. Peace and joy are closely related in this instance in terms of the applicabilty to daily life. Being joyful and being even happy is the third component seen here in Romans 14. Joy in the Lord is strength (Nehemiah 8:10).

These three things: righteousness, peace, and joy are found in the Holy Spirit (as the verse says).

"So when the Spirit rules and conquers our selfishness and pride, and replaces it with Christlike righteousness, then we will not grieve and destroy a brother for the sake of food. The Spirit of God—the kingdom of God—creates righteousness and peace and joy. This is what the Spirit of God does." John Piper

Anyway, just a thought on that verse. Hopefully that made some sense.