“For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for
everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in
it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is
written, “The just shall live by faith.” For the wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,
who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” – Romans 1:16-18
I believe there’s a
connotation attached to the word Righteous that, at least in my heart, makes me
feel unworthy to call myself righteous.
That connotation came about through the slang meaning of the word. Merriam Webster puts it perfectly saying:
“Righteous is an old
word living a double life: a marker of moral goodness, and undercover slang for
"excellent." ... According to our evidence, righteous did not start
out as a surfer term of the 1980’s, as many people assume.”
In my head I can still hear
the secretary telling the principle on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off that Ferris “is
a righteous dude!”. I can also hear Wayne
and Garth saying it was “totally righteous!” and talking about “righteous babes”.
I’m disqualifying their
meaning of the word and suggesting we Christians take it back! Righteousness is a gift from God through Jesus
Christ! It’s something to be proud of.
Yet with the meaning of it being so twisted to mean so many things, it’s
hard to put it on and wear it. I mean, what will people thing if I tell them I’m
righteous? Eh? The meaning of the word has been suppressed, just as Romans 1:18
states.
Why care so much about a
word? Because that word represents a lot
of power, and many gifts!
“For as by one man’s
disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will
be made righteous.” – Romans 5:19
(Warning: I’m about to use
the word BLOOD. Don’t cop out on me when
I use the word. I know some folks see it
as gross, and disgusting. You just have
to see it for what it is and you’ll love it. The BLOOD of Jesus was who He was
in God, just as your DNA proves who you are and it’s in your blood. He was God’s son, and the BLOOD proved it.)
By Jesus’ obedience to the
cross, to shed His blood (there it is!) and His life for us, we were given the
hope of attaining righteousness. And yes,
even being covered in righteousness!
When God looks upon me, He does not see the person I used to be. He sees a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17) He sees the blood of Christ as my sin covering.
(You’d have to study the old sacrifices to fully get why this is important.)
“I will greatly rejoice in
the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the
garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom
decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her
jewels.” – Isaiah 61:10
And because of that
covering, we resemble the Lord Jesus Christ! It makes us different in the eyes
of God! We are “a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” as stated in
1 Peter 2:9.
“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are
open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those
who do evil.” – 1 Peter 3:12
But even in that we should
still be humble! Our righteousness is
NOTHING we can brag about ourselves, and I think that’s where the difference in
the slang use of the word and the Christian use of the word lies. We have it as a gift – given freely – never earned. I’m not a righteous dudette because of
something I did or the way I comb my hair or how I dress!
For by grace you are saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works,
lest any man should boast. – Ephesians 2:7-9
The Bible talks of Gentiles and
Israelites. The Gentiles didn’t try to attain
righteousness on their own, but the Israelites did. They tried to keep 613 laws throughout their
entire life. But God’s word says they
STILL did not attain righteousness.
“What
shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have
attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but
Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the
law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek
it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they
stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and
rock of offense, and whoever
believes on Him will not be put to shame.”- Romans 9:30-33
Now
picture a world where God would give us righteousness because of our good
works, our kindness, our gentleness, our love for others, our clean language. Exactly how much righteousness could you have
compared to someone else? Would God give
the same to you as He gave to the most corrupt person you know? What would be the scale for earning
righteousness? Does 10 good works a year
give you 10% righteousness?
You see, the
belief that the righteousness of God can be earned is flawed. There’s no program to get you there. There’s no diploma of righteousness to earn –
or anyone worthy enough to give it on this earth! Even with the 613 Levitical laws, no one
attained it!
God
grants us faith as a gift. We can choose
to believe in Jesus – or not. That’s the
free will He gave us that prevents us from being slaves to Christianity. We become His children through faith, and our
own free will to accept Jesus. God does not
want slaves – He want’s children. And
through faith we become as children to Him. (Again, remember the BLOOD makes
you children!) And THAT and that alone makes us righteous.
What’s
the big deal with righteousness? For me
it’s in one verse. This one:
“Confess your trespasses to
one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective,
fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” - James 5:16
To
be found righteous in God’s eyes, God who looks on the heart, you have an open portal
to the maker and keeper of all things on this earth and beyond. You have an open line to the God of the
universe, the God of peace and understanding and all wisdom. I dare say, I would not last a day without
Him. But, even if I didn’t last another
day here with Him, I have eternity WITH Him.
Can you top that? Nope! Righteousness
is righteous, dude!
