Effortlessly righteous! – Thursday, 05 April
| “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17 KJV The message of the gospel is the message of the grace of Christ (Acts 20:24) and it’s the good news which reveals how we can be right with God (righteous) by faith. The gospel isn’t a to-do-list of how you can become holy, righteous and accepted by God. The gospel is the good news of what Jesus has done for you and how if you believe (put faith or trust in) Jesus and His finished work on your behalf, you will be made right with God – with no effort on your part! Sounds nearly too good to be true, but that’s the gospel truth! In the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. The word revealed means to make known and so the truth being presented here is that the gospel makes known the righteousness of God (not your own righteousness), and it’s by faith not by your efforts – it’s the gospel of grace, not performance. There is no good news (gospel) in messages of performance because our performance will always fluctuate and will never be good enough for God. The good news is that by simply believing in Jesus and what He has done for us we are made 100% right with God without any effort on our part! “For he hath made himto be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV The moment we believe and become new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) we are made the righteousness of God in Him – we are made completely and perfectly right with God. We do not make ourselves righteous – righteousness is not about actions, it’s about identity (being). We could never reach God’s standard of righteousness through our best efforts! We could only ever be righteous like God if He gave it to us as a gift – and that’s exactly how it works! We receive His righteousness as a gift – we cannot earn it, achieve it or deserve it. By faith in Jesus and what He has done for us, the moment we become Christians we are 100% right with God. You cannot become more right with God than you already are – you’re 100% perfectly right with God 100% of the time. Yes, you may do unrighteous things but that doesn’t change who you are (perfectly righteous). My kids love acting like dogs from time to time, but that doesn’t make them animals – they’re perfectly human! They don’t always behave right or appropriately but they are still 100% human. They cannot get any more human than they currently are! They are simply growing and maturing as humans. Likewise, a true believer cannot become any more righteous than he or she already is. There may be times when they act like the devil and sin, but they are still growing in their revelation of their new identity in Christ – they are still maturing as believers. As they grow in the revelation of who they are in Christ they will begin to possess more and more fruit of righteousness (actions of righteousness). “By living in God, love has been brought to its full expression in us so that we may fearlessly face the day of judgment, because all that Jesus now is, so are we in this world.” |
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