What
do you think righteousness is about? Something you do or
something you are? Right doing or right being?
The
Bible tells us that after Jesus’ sacrifice at the cross, God imputes
righteousness not to those who strive to obey the law (see Galatians 2:16), but
to anyone who believes in His Son. Because Christ took our sins and gave us His
righteousness (see 2 Corinthians 5:21), the moment we believe in Him, God
treats us as righteous apart from our works or obedience (see Romans 4:5–8).
This is new covenant righteousness—a righteousness that comes by faith and not
works.
You
are not righteous because of how morally upright you are. You are not righteous
because you exercise self-control. You are not righteous because you read 10
chapters of the Bible daily. You are not righteous because you feel righteous.
But you are the very righteousness of God in Christ solely because the
sacrifice of Jesus made you so. When you believe this, your faith is accounted
for righteousness.
And
this is what God wants you to use your faith for. If you are righteous by your
deeds, you don’t need faith. You also don’t need faith to know that you are
sinful. But you need faith to believe and declare that you are the
righteousness of God in Christ, in the midst of your struggles with temptation
and sin.
For
example, when you feel lousy because you have just shouted at your wife, God
wants you to exercise your faith to see yourself as still righteous in the
midst of that failure. This living revelation that you are still righteous will
give you the strength to love your wife and reconcile things with her.
The
devil may remind you of your foul temper and question your integrity: “How dare
you call yourself righteous when you just did that!” Just ignore his lies and
boldly declare, “I am not righteous because of what I have done or not done. I
am righteous only because of the blood and finished work of Jesus at the
cross!” (Article & Picture;
courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).
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