Day 4; You are righteous

Scriptural texts:

"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ)".Romans 5:17 KJV

"And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God". James 2:23 KJV

Considerations for today: 

Righteousness is the ability to stand before God without any feeling of guilt or inferiority complex. It was sin that separated man from God; and the earliest effect of sin was shame (i.e. feeling of guilt and inferiority). Notice that man could fellowship with God before that time: God would come in the cool of the evening and would talk with man face to face as a friend would talk to another. Shame came about by sin for they had always been naked but were not aware of it. Sin brings guilt and condemnation. It brings despair, sorrow and depression.

 

In Christ Jesus we are restored and made right by God, before God and before everything and everybody else. We are restored to that original state/relationship that Adam had with God. This sate of rightness with God is called righteousness. This righteousness has become our nature. Righteous is who we have become and not just what we do. It was said about Abraham that he believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness (Jam 2:23). He became righteous by believing.

 

Righteousness is a person. Jesus Christ has become our righteousness before God (1 Co 1:30) and we have also become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Co 5:21). In other words we have become the evidence of God’s righteousness. This is a tall order and a high call. Only such as the blood of the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world could guarantee this. By the new and the living way we enter into the holy place. We have direct access to the father because Jesus has made a way for us

 

We will see clearly from the foregone that we cannot make ourselves righteous. Righteousness is a gift from our Father. He saw that the only way we could share fellowship with him again was to share in His nature of righteousness. So just like he did for Abraham, he also does for us when we come in to Christ: He inputs his righteousness on us. Hallelujah!

Meditation Scriptures: Romans 4

Prayer: My Father I thank you that I now share the same nature with you since I came into Christ. I do not suffer from any fear or inferiority because I am in your good books. There is no charge against and no accusation leveled against me can stand anymore.
 

Bible in 1 year:  Matthew 13 - 16