CrumbsNSlices

Thoughts that come to me that I would like to share. Great to have place to express them. Sometimes they are crumbs. Sometimes they are larger bites - even slices.

My Photo
Name:
Location: Edmond, Oklahoma, United States

Sunday, September 10, 2006

It's Rightous, Brother!

Words are wonderful things. With them we pass our thoughts, ideas, desires on to others. Words are used to structure principles and concepts.

Sometimes, words of great import are used so frequently that their meaning fades. They become common and lose their import. Such a word is Righteous, and its offshoot, Righteousness. Modern usage has even lowered the usage to anything good or enjoyable: "That's righteous!" Righteousness, on the other hand, is either ignored, or just not given its proper importance.

One basic definition of righteousness is "the state of he who is such as he ought to be". In other words, he is right.

Another definition is "guiltlessness before God". Does anyone want to raise their hand?

Righteousness is obviously a condition related to our relationship with God. Jesus said: " For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Mathew 5:20). I guess you could even say that it is a pre-condition to our entrance to heaven.

Here is a disturbing thought: Romans 3:10 says "As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;"

So, we have a dilemma. Righteousness is a condition to our right relationship with God. But His word says no one meets that standard. It goes on to say " Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin." Romans 3:20.

So what shall we do? We don't meet God's standard of righteousness. We can't become righteous by doing all the good things and avoiding all the bad things listed in the law. Are we lost? NO!

Because here is the essence of the gospel: Rom 3:21-22a "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."

God has made provision to give His righteousness to us, "through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe!"
We can have no righteousness of our own, but we can have God's righteousness given to us. That is why Jesus came to earth. To bring God's gift to us, and to take our sins upon Himself!

We obtain that gift when we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord of our life, and believe that God has raised Him from the dead:
"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Rom. 10:9-10).

Have you believed? Have you proclaimed? How about now?

1 Comments:

Blogger Bob Arnold said...

Summary:
Righteousness is the quality which makes us acceptable to God.
Bad news: we have no righteousness, and cannot create any.
Good news:Jesus came to this earth to give His righteousness to us.
"This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."

12:30 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home