“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.””
Romans 1:17 ESV
Yesterday we talked about holiness. It is our relationship with God, well it is more God’s relationship with us that make us holy. Without Him we are hopeless.when it comes to holiness. It is from this relationship that we know what life saving righteousness is.
In our limited understanding we can define our righteousness for ourselves. It will probably be different than the next person’s definition but God is not calling us to live by a subjective limited righteousness. It is not by a feeble limited understanding of righteousness that changes with the wind. True righteousness comes out of our relationship with Jesus. It is from this ongoing relationship that we start to understand what righteousness that God calls us to live by.
Yet the temptation that we face is to redefine righteousness to make us more comfortable instead of allowing the holiness that Jesus is calling us to and the right living that He is instructing us in. True righteousness is defined by God the creator of heaven and earth. If we are willing to stop trying to be gods and walk with God by His invitation we will start to understand righteousness from the inside, how it has changed our lives, our actions, our words, our very thoughts.
The holiness that comes through and from Jesus, encourages to live in righteousness, not our own righteousness but the righteousness of Jesus. “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,” Ephesians 6:14 ESV. The righteousness of Christ protects us, guides us to what right living is really like. It is not about our human sinful whims that are self absorbed, but about the life giving grace that is enriched by the Jesus’ Holy Spirit. When we are living by the righteousness of Jesus we are living towards eternity, towards the new heaven and the new earth and we become ambassadors of the life changing grace of Jesus.
