Established In Right

Isa 54:14

In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

2 Cor 5:21-6:1

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Rom 5:17

17 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.)

The Bible says that we have made the righteousness of God in Christ.

Righteousness is to stand before God without any sense of guilt, condemnation or inferiority.

 Righteousness is a gift. Righteousness is a nature.  A nature is a nature –who you are inherently, not behavior, what you do outwardly. Righteousness is not right living; it is a nature that will eventually produce right living because of the inherent right in nature. A person doing right things does not automatically make them a righteous person. It is nature that defines fruit; fruit does not define nature. 

God gave us the gift of righteousness upon the platform of His love. And He did this by the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, in order to make His gift to us legal. God is a just God, and He must have justice. He took His justice in punishing a man –Jesus for us. This justice ended up as righteousness –the gift, to us.  

The gift of righteousness cost Jesus His life, but it has been given to us for free. Knowing that we did not and cannot work for righteousness does not make the gift any less valuable. If anything, the fact that something so priceless is free makes it all the more precious.

We cannot work for this righteousness. There is no amount of effort that can produce this nature or extend this gift to us. This is why we must be established in righteousness. When you are established in this precious gift, you will begin to discover your true nature and you will begin to receive freely all that Jesus did for you. Do not try to work for money or for things. Do not try to work for holiness and right living. Simply receive it. Listen, the way you received righteousness, by simply believing in Jesus, is the same way that you continue to live life in Him. You cannot maintain by your effort what you did not work to get. The works of righteousness are not many; the works of righteousness is to believe. 

Come to understand that you are standing before God without any sense of guilt, condemnation or inferiority. Stop trying to get things from God using gimmicks. If your qualification before God is not based on what you have done or what you do, but on what Jesus has done, why do you feel like you are not good enough for the things that God offers? And why do you feel like you have to convince God to give to you by much praying and much giving? Is your receiving still based on God’s free gift or your actions now? 

It is God that does for us what He does for us; we do not make ourselves great, we cannot help God to make us great. In the same vein, we cannot undo His help to us and for us by our actions.

Righteousness is not defined by anything I can do or not do because it is not based on my standards. Be established in righteousness. Righteousness is all the work of God. 

- Pst Adah Igah