Proverbs 21 21 says he that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life righteousness and honor If we want to find life, righteousness, and honor, we must follow after righteousness and mercy. And that may seem obvious to most Christian believers, but it's something that we sinners saved by grace must make a conscious effort at actually doing. We have a sinful nature from birth. King David expresses this fact in Psalm 51 5 behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me and That's why we come out sinning from the time. We are born and as soon as we can move our hands and make choices Because we are wicked by nature and infected with sinful desires and tendencies before we even leave the womb As Psalm 58.3 says, the wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. So it's not in our nature, actually, to follow after righteousness. Paul describes it this way in Romans chapter seven, verses 15 through 17. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now, then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Sin dwells in us, so we must follow after righteousness. And that begins with faith in God and his word, as with Abraham, who followed after righteousness. In Genesis 15, 6 we're told, and he believed in the Lord, and he, the Lord, counted it to him, Abraham, for righteousness. And in our time, and in this dispensation, faith begins when we believe the gospel of the grace of God, how that Christ shed his blood in death on the cross, was buried, and after three days and three nights, he rose from the dead, conquering sin and death on our behalf. Before this, we do things that are considered good works and righteous acts, but those things do nothing to make us right before God, so we don't receive His life, His imputed righteousness, or His mercy as a result. Isaiah 64 6 explains the plight of the faithless man trying to do righteous acts in order to receive God's blessings It says but we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags and we all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away and So to follow righteousness today, we put our faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ and then we begin to live by faith as we believe God's word and let it change us and work through us. As the old hymn says, trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. We believe God by receiving his word and it then produces righteousness. as the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us by faith in the gospel and then his word. basically imputes the righteousness of Christ into us that then works out of us as it did again as Paul describes Abraham in Romans 4 11 who was declared righteous by God even before he did anything before he was circumcised before he even demonstrated his faith with his life he believed God well it says there in Romans 4 11 that he might be the father of all them that believe though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them also." In other words, even before circumcision, God recognized those with faith in Him. And the only righteous man in the eyes of God is the one who, by faith, believes on Him and receives life, righteousness, and honor in the person of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And that is the only way sinful men can follow after righteousness and receive God's blessings.