How does a man become righteous before God? Many might argue that one must follow certain religious rules, recite the perfect number of scriptures, or pray a specific prayer to become righteous in His sight. But to understand what righteousness is, how to obtain it, and how to avoid drifting away from it, we’ll need to understand how the kingdom of God operates. But before I lose you on the whole righteousness thing, know this: righteousness in its simplest definition simply means, being in “right standing.”
All too often, when we hear bigger-than-life, lofty, or holier-than-thou terminology, we get discouraged and think, I could never live up to that standard. But the good new is this: as soon as you begin the quest to be in right standing with God, at that very moment, you ARE in right standing with Him! If you’ve been taught that only priest or ministers can enter the Holy of Holies, you need to spend more time reading the New Testament to learn more about how Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection changed our ability to access God directly.
If you are like me, you probably don’t feel “righteous” 24-7, or the moment your feet hit the floor in the morning. Like most revelations in the Bible, and what matters most is not how we feel; it’s what we believe and profess. Just because we don’t feel like a mighty prayer warrior one day, doesn’t mean we’ve lost faith or drifted away from right standing.
How we feel, emotionally speaking is often highly overrated.
Let’s say I’m hiking up a trail in the Rockies for hours. Darkness falls and I can no longer see the trail I’m on – that doesn’t change the fact that I am STILL physically on the trail. I might not feel like continuing up when I can’t see my route, but I am still on the trail. Similarly, if you’ve started a walk with Jesus and are trying to monitor your growth and seeking ways to improve your right standing in His sight, but don’t feel like you are making progress, or you can’t see any change, remember this: you are STILL on the trail.
Romans 1:17 tells us that one cannot be righteous (right standing) without also having FAITH working in one’s life as well. Whether or not we feel righteous on any given day is irrelevant. What’s important is that we continue to walk in faith, knowing that no matter what we may have done years ago or even yesterday that made us feel unworthy or less righteous, in the end we are in right standing with God as long as we continue to believe in Him.
To avoid drifting away and losing interest or worse yet, our hope, to continue to rest in right standing before God and man, we must acknowledge that the Word of God is living and active every day, even during the dark days when we think that we are walking alone and that God has abandoned us. This journey is, in a word, FAITH.
It is during this part of the journey when we desperately seek God’s wisdom, healing, and favor, that we stir our faith to find the courage to boldly approach the throne and have a chat with God. Hebrews 4:16 gives us a clue as to how to go about this. “Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.”
This verse gives us a way out, an action we can take to ensure we rebalance and remain in right standing, even when we don’t ‘feel’ like we are able. We are to turn to the throne of grace to receive mercy. But notice what must happen first. We have to DRAW NEAR - but with what? Are we to draw near with a spirit of fear, begging like a dog for mercy? Whining like a three-year-old child revving her engines before the tantrum? Are we supposed to draw near, doubting and guilt-ridden? NO! We are to draw near, with CONFIDENCE, to the throne of grace.
How awesome is that! Think about that verse for a minute. There’s a lot going on here. In the midst of the storm, when our weaknesses are fully exposed, our hearts broken, when, like the women with the issue of blood in the book of Mark, we don’t feel all that great about ourselves, when we most need help and mercy, we are instructed to APPROACH the throne WITH CONFIDENCE.
In doing this, we are acting in accordance with God’s will, and that alone should provide all the confidence we need to STAND and KNOW our RESLOVE.
[Like what your reading? There’s more where this came from – deeper studies of scriptural stories in my book, Legacies of Valor – Traits of Character: The Noble & The Notable. Support this blog ministry by ordering a copy of Legacies of Valor today]
If you are like me, you probably don’t feel “righteous” 24-7, or the moment your feet hit the floor in the morning. Like most revelations in the Bible, and what matters most is not how we feel; it’s what we believe and profess. Just because we don’t feel like a mighty prayer warrior one day, doesn’t mean we’ve lost faith or drifted away from right standing.
How we feel, emotionally speaking is often highly overrated.
Let’s say I’m hiking up a trail in the Rockies for hours. Darkness falls and I can no longer see the trail I’m on – that doesn’t change the fact that I am STILL physically on the trail. I might not feel like continuing up when I can’t see my route, but I am still on the trail. Similarly, if you’ve started a walk with Jesus and are trying to monitor your growth and seeking ways to improve your right standing in His sight, but don’t feel like you are making progress, or you can’t see any change, remember this: you are STILL on the trail.
Romans 1:17 tells us that one cannot be righteous (right standing) without also having FAITH working in one’s life as well. Whether or not we feel righteous on any given day is irrelevant. What’s important is that we continue to walk in faith, knowing that no matter what we may have done years ago or even yesterday that made us feel unworthy or less righteous, in the end we are in right standing with God as long as we continue to believe in Him.
To avoid drifting away and losing interest or worse yet, our hope, to continue to rest in right standing before God and man, we must acknowledge that the Word of God is living and active every day, even during the dark days when we think that we are walking alone and that God has abandoned us. This journey is, in a word, FAITH.
It is during this part of the journey when we desperately seek God’s wisdom, healing, and favor, that we stir our faith to find the courage to boldly approach the throne and have a chat with God. Hebrews 4:16 gives us a clue as to how to go about this. “Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.”
This verse gives us a way out, an action we can take to ensure we rebalance and remain in right standing, even when we don’t ‘feel’ like we are able. We are to turn to the throne of grace to receive mercy. But notice what must happen first. We have to DRAW NEAR - but with what? Are we to draw near with a spirit of fear, begging like a dog for mercy? Whining like a three-year-old child revving her engines before the tantrum? Are we supposed to draw near, doubting and guilt-ridden? NO! We are to draw near, with CONFIDENCE, to the throne of grace.
How awesome is that! Think about that verse for a minute. There’s a lot going on here. In the midst of the storm, when our weaknesses are fully exposed, our hearts broken, when, like the women with the issue of blood in the book of Mark, we don’t feel all that great about ourselves, when we most need help and mercy, we are instructed to APPROACH the throne WITH CONFIDENCE.
In doing this, we are acting in accordance with God’s will, and that alone should provide all the confidence we need to STAND and KNOW our RESLOVE.
[Like what your reading? There’s more where this came from – deeper studies of scriptural stories in my book, Legacies of Valor – Traits of Character: The Noble & The Notable. Support this blog ministry by ordering a copy of Legacies of Valor today]
