The New Righteousness

Every human has an innate desire to be righteous - to know that who they are and what they are doing is "right." Feelings of guilt arise when one discovers that what they are doing is not right. But how does one define what is right? How can they know? Each of us has a built in system for this - what we have termed our conscience. But if you spend any time around other people and get to know them, everyone seems to have a defined righteousness for themselves in different ways. Nevertheless, we all seem to have a basic, general understanding of what is right: killing or hurting others is not right, stealing from others is not right, telling lies is not right, and so on.
But when one does wrong, and feels guilt, what can you do about it? Usually, we try to make up for it, to pay for it, to make it right. A hot topic of righteousness in our culture is our personal righteousness with respect to the environment. One of the unintended consequences of the Environmental Movement is guilt - being guilty for our very existence. We humans have to consume part of nature to continue our existence: we breathe in oxygen and release carbon dioxide, we consume water and food, and we return waste products to the earth. Each of us is responsible in some part for the pollution of the environment. We even have a term for it now: carbon footprint. We are now able to scientifically estimate how much we pollute - we can weigh and measure our guilt. "He who has the greatest carbon footprint is the most guilty and must make it right to be environmentally righteous again" so goes the thinking. And we make ourselves righteous again by buying "green" products, driving fewer miles in cars, recycling more, and the like, to justify ourselves. But how much is enough? How much "green" will make you feel righteous?
Is having an even balance sheet with Mother Nature our righteousness? No, Christ is our righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). His death on the cross is what has paid for our unrighteousness - all of it. And his righteousness is given freely through faith in him. And declared righteous by God through Christ and freed from guilt, we are free - free to serve. And freed from guilt, we can freely serve one another and be the stewards of the earth that God intended for us to be. We are free to use it without guilt, but do so wisely. Not to be righteous, but out of love for God and neighbor.

Besides, doesn't the Earth do a very good job of absorbing our carbon footprint? - photosynthesis!