right with God | Kristi's Morning Devotional

How do you define the word righteous? And along that same line, define the word righteousness. Think about that for a few moments.

Let me give you a simple definition of righteous. It was one that my college professor gave in class years ago. Righteous: being made right with God. Is that how we see ourselves – right with God?

“Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could be right with God.” II Corinthians 5:21 ERV

That’s the way God sees us. The great exchange. Jesus, who had never sinned, took on our sins when He died on the cross and in exchange for our sin, gave us His righteousness. His right-standing with God became ours. That is absolutely amazing!

Isaiah wrote that our self-righteousness is like filthy rags. Our efforts to make ourselves in right-standing with God is, at its best, rubbish.

My dad was a master mechanic. He worked on large equipment, keeping it running and fixing it when it broke down. When he would come home his clothes were filthy and he would often have dirty towels he had used to wipe his hands on. I remember Mom telling him to throw those dirty things in the trash, there was no point in trying to wash them, they wouldn’t come clean.

That’s the image that would come to mind when I heard that phrase, filthy rags. Now contrast that image with this one.

“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.
¹¹For as the earth brings forth its bud, As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” Isaiah 61:10-11 NKJV

Dirty, greasy, grimy clothes or the elegant apparel of a bride groom, how do we think God sees us? Because of Christ, He sees us decked out in His finest.

“But Christ died for us while we were still sinners (dirty, greasy), and by this God showed how much he loves us.

⁹We have been made right with God by the blood sacrifice of Christ. So through Christ we will surely be saved from God’s anger. ¹⁰I mean that while we were God’s enemies, he made friends with us through his Son’s death. And the fact that we are now God’s friends (righteous) makes it even more certain that he will save us through his Son’s life. ¹¹And not only will we be saved, but we also rejoice right now in what God has done for us through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is because of Jesus that we are now God’s friends.” Romans 5:8-11 ERV

I titled this morning’s blog God’s Thoughts About Me. Do you see it now? He thinks we’re righteous, in right standing with Him and these verses in Romans say that He calls us his friends. God the Father doesn’t hate us – He isn’t even mad at us.

He loves us!

Now for the final word on what God thinks about us. The first version of this verse uses the word “thoughts” and other versions say “plans”. I wanted you to see them both

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Jeremiah 29:11 KJV

“I say this because I know the plans that I have for you.” This message is from the Lord. “I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future. ¹²Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³You will search for me, and when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me.” Jeremiah 29:11-13 ERV

God’s thoughts about us are those of a loving Father. He has good plans for us, He doesn’t want to harm us. Instead He gives us hope and a good future. As we go about our day, it’s quite possible that thoughts will come to mind that are counter to the thoughts that God has of us. Don’t let those thoughts linger, replace them with what God thinks of us.

Trust God! His thoughts toward us are good.

Each morning God gives us proof that He can be trusted. The sunrise reveals God’s consistent, actually eternal, promise of provision and care. Since the beginning of time God has faithfully delivered a sunrise to remind us that we have a new opportunity to walk in His love.

“Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.” Isaiah 58:8 NLV

The theme or focus of today’s verses seems to be righteousness. Righteousness is an old English, religious word but it can be defined as right standing with God. Do you see yourself as righteous? Ponder that for a moment. If you’ve answered no – then I trust that today’s teaching will open your eyes to the wonderful power of God in your life.

“You are righteous, Lord, and Your judgments are just. ¹³⁸The decrees You issue are righteous and altogether trustworthy. ¹³⁹My anger overwhelms me because my foes forget Your words. ¹⁴⁰Your word is completely pure, and Your servant loves it. ¹⁴¹I am insignificant and despised, but I do not forget Your precepts. ¹⁴²Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your instruction is true. ¹⁴³Trouble and distress have overtaken me, but Your commands are my delight. ¹⁴⁴Your decrees are righteous forever. Give me understanding, and I will live.” Psalm 119:137-144

There’s that word “understand” again. As David grew in the word he grew in understanding. He experienced firsthand the faithfulness of God’s righteousness. He knew that he was in right standing with God because he was devoted to God’s word.

Genesis 15 says that “he (Abraham) believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness”. That’s where righteousness was birthed, in believing God. David followed the example of righteous Abraham and he believed God. If God said it, that was good enough. In Psalm 23, David said that the Lord leads him in paths of righteousness. And he willingly followed His shepherd.

As an old man, David penned in Psalm 37 “I have been young and now I am old; I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging for bread.” In Psalm 112, which I call the righteous man’s Psalm, David describes the life of the man who lives righteous. This is God’s inspired word and so I am willing to live the truth of this Psalm in my life.

“Praise the Lord! How happy is the man who honors the Lord with fear and finds joy in His Law! ²His children will be powerful in the land. Each family who is right will be happy. ³Riches and well-being are in his house. And his right-standing with God will last forever. ⁴Light rises even in darkness for the one who is right. He is kind and has loving-pity and does what is right. ⁵Good will come to the man who is ready to give much, and fair in what he does. ⁶He will never be shaken. The man who is right and good will be remembered forever. ⁷He will not be afraid of bad news. His heart is strong because he trusts in the Lord. ⁸His heart will not be shaken. He will not be afraid and will watch those lose who fight against him. ⁹He has given much to the poor. His right-standing with God lasts forever. His horn will be lifted high in honor. ¹⁰The sinful man will see it and be troubled and angry. He will grind his teeth and waste away. The desire of the sinful will come to nothing.” Psalm 112 NLV

We can’t be “righteous” on our own. It’s just not possible, no matter how hard we try. We are influenced by our prejudice and judge situations from our limited scope of understanding. While God on the other hand sees all things through His eyes of unconditional, unprejudiced love and judges justly in every situation.

“But God has a way to make people right, and it has nothing to do with the law. He has now shown us that new way, which the law and the prophets told us about. ²²God makes people right through their faith in Jesus Christ. He does this for all who believe in Christ. Everyone is the same. ²³All have sinned and are not good enough to share God’s divine greatness. ²⁴They are made right with God by his grace. This is a free gift. They are made right with God by being made free from sin through Jesus Christ.” Romans 3:21-24

Some of you may ask why I am spending time on this this morning. Simply put, if you can be convinced you that you aren’t righteous, then it’s easy to steal God’s word and His promises from you because you feel unworthy. I know – been there, done that, hated it! But once the Lord showed me that He considered me righteous, not because of what I had done but because of who I am in Christ, my life of defeated Christianity turned around and I began to face every giant, physical, mental and spiritual, with the same confidence and conviction that David had when he faced Goliath.

Standing complete in my righteousness in Christ turned conflict into conquest, battles into blessings and struggles into success.

So I’ll ask you again – are you righteous? Let me give you this answer. “Christ never sinned but God put our sin on Him. Then we are made right with God because of what Christ has done for us.” II Corinthians 5:21 NLV

Yes, yes you are if you are in Christ!

“Lord, I don’t want to live a defeated life. I want to have the kind of life that is described in Psalm 112. Show me who you made me to be. I want to live to my full potential. You made a way for me to be right with you – I choose Your way. In Jesus name. Amen.”

Tag: right with God

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