“…he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
Psalms 23:3

If I am a follower of Jesus, then He has placed His name upon me, and He desires that I walk in THE paths that properly result in reflecting His character & glory through me as I walk those paths with Him.

He is righteous. He will only walk in righteous paths. He asks us to walk with Him. And so we each must ask ourselves, “Am I on a righteous path with Jesus, or on another path?”

“The highway of the upright is to depart from evil…” Proverbs 16:17

“By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.” Proverbs 16:6

If we are walking with the Lord, we will be departing from evil. If we say we are a Christian, a follower of Jesus, and continue in the paths of evil, we are deceiving ourselves and bringing shame upon His name.

But notice, God uses both mercy AND truth to purge evil from our lives as we walk with Him. He tells us the truth about our sin, and if we agree with Him and ask His forgiveness, He applies mercy to our lives. This is a righteous path.

“For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.” Psalms 25:11

God is glorified and His Character is revealed when He pardons and forgives our great sin. We must ask for this pardon, but by calling upon His name, we call upon His merciful character.

He is merciful and forgiving.

“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Amos 3:3

“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:6-9

This then, is a path of righteousness. That is, being straight with Jesus as we walk with Him. When we blow it, we tell Him and ask for His forgiveness and His strength to overcome that next temptation.

In Him,

Marc