"Am I righteous? I don't know. I never thought about it. I sure don't feel righteous."
These might be your thoughts when you see today's headline. Let me ask you again,
Are you righteous?
"I sure hope so," you might say.
Hoping doesn't get you righteous. Feelings don't make you righteous.
Then what does?
Genesis 15:6 says: "And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness."
Who is "he" who believed in the Lord? He is Abram who later became Abraham. The margin in my Bible reads, "God did not evaluate Abraham as righteous because everything he did was right, but because he had faith in God's ability to make him righteous."
The key word here in the Bible verse is "accounted it to him" and in the margin "make him".
Righteousness is not something I become when I strive, work and do the right things, righteousness is something that is "accounted" to me or given to me, something I am made. How? By faith. Abraham believed that God had the ability to make him righteous, and that was all he needed to be righteous.
Are you discouraged and on the verge of giving up on God because you find it difficult to please Him? Don't! Just believe in God's ability to account righteousness to you. How? Through Jesus. Believe on Jesus, that He died for you, that He lived the righteous life for you, that He lives today to strengthen, support and pray for you.
Stop striving to live "right", accept God's righteousness in Jesus Christ, and you will be right. Then you will live right because you love the Lord, not because you're striving to become His righteousness.
Accept, relax and enjoy!
These might be your thoughts when you see today's headline. Let me ask you again,
Are you righteous?
"I sure hope so," you might say.
Hoping doesn't get you righteous. Feelings don't make you righteous.
Then what does?
Genesis 15:6 says: "And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness."
Who is "he" who believed in the Lord? He is Abram who later became Abraham. The margin in my Bible reads, "God did not evaluate Abraham as righteous because everything he did was right, but because he had faith in God's ability to make him righteous."
The key word here in the Bible verse is "accounted it to him" and in the margin "make him".
Righteousness is not something I become when I strive, work and do the right things, righteousness is something that is "accounted" to me or given to me, something I am made. How? By faith. Abraham believed that God had the ability to make him righteous, and that was all he needed to be righteous.
Are you discouraged and on the verge of giving up on God because you find it difficult to please Him? Don't! Just believe in God's ability to account righteousness to you. How? Through Jesus. Believe on Jesus, that He died for you, that He lived the righteous life for you, that He lives today to strengthen, support and pray for you.
Stop striving to live "right", accept God's righteousness in Jesus Christ, and you will be right. Then you will live right because you love the Lord, not because you're striving to become His righteousness.
Accept, relax and enjoy!
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