God's righteousness

Over the past week, I have dwelt upon this term, righteousness. The term can often have a negative connotation in it. You may have been called "self-righteous," or maybe you have called someone that. The idea in that term is that someone believes they are far above everyone else. If anyone ever calls you self-righteous, it's not a good thing. They think you are stuck up and full of yourself. Righteousness was not meant to be viewed in such a way though.

Righteousness means to be free of guilt. It is tied very closely to the idea of being justified. What we must understand though is that righteousness is a gift of God. The only way that we may be righteous is by the working of God in and through our lives. 1 Peter 2:24 "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." He took on our sins, on our punishment, so that we would no longer be dead in our sins, but that we would be free to live in righteousness. Ephesians 2 tells that we were dead in our transgressions, but by His grace we have been made alive in Christ. Our punishment and sin, our unrighteousness, is imputed to Christ and His righteousness is imputed to us. We must believe and call on the name of the Lord to be saved and to receive His righteousness. Righteousness goes just beyond faith though. After salvation, we should grow in righteousness. A man is called righteous by the things he does, not just by his faith (James 2:24). Our actions should be evidence of our faith, evidence of our righteousness. Again, this righteousness is not from ourselves, but is from God who is the only righteous one.

The question I have asked myself this week is: Am I living in a righteous manner? That is, am I allowing God to be my source of courage and of wisdom? Have I allowed God to be my guide for every day? We must die to ourselves daily and follow Him. That is the only way we can be declared righteous. We must move beyond a simple, basic faith which is key, but it is not where we were meant to stay. The runners in a race were not meant to stay in at the starting line. He was meant to run, to get stronger and faster. A human is not meant to stay an infant, but it is meant to grow, transform, and mature into an adult. The Christian was never meant to stay in the moment where they recognized his/her need for a Savior, but was meant to be molded, shaped and transformed into the very image of a righteous God.

God, may everyday be a day in which I am transformed and changed by your righteousness. May it be for your glory. Amen.