Righteousness

Good Morning,

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (NIV)
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

I awoke this morning with an song in my head that I learned when I was about 6 years old and first learning about Jesus and what He meant in my life. Now, I'm not going to tell you that I remember the exact words, but I will tell you that I definitely remember the melody, and these are the words I heard today (I hope someone will correct my memory errors on this chorus):

Oh, Lord I am not worthy,
That Thou should come to me,
But speak Thy words of comfort,
My spirit will be healed.

The song, of course, played about in my head and what came after was so very simple. Of course I'm not worthy! But, I don't have to be! Praise God, I can call on the righteousness granted to me through Jesus Christ alive in me and in my life! This thought caused me to smile and be so very grateful to God that, in and of myself, I don't have to depend on being truly "righteous"...because there's no way I can. That goes without saying. So, I had just this marvelous feeling about the whole matter as I came in to see what awaited as far as Scripture verses.

God is so marvelous! The first verse I came across was, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." To say that my thoughts and feelings were backed up by Scripture would be a huge understatement. You see, in my thoughts about being so "unworthy" in my own mind, I have the righteousness of Jesus Christ in the eyes and mind of God.

So do you.

None of us can claim to be totally righteous or sinless in our lives. We are all human beings with human faults and frailties. We all fall and fail from time to time...(sometimes too often?). We all sin. Paul wrote in Romans, "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Rom. 3:23) But, lest we be unforgiving of ourselves and forget to whom we give our hope and trust and faith and love, Paul also tells us, "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe...and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (vv 22, 24)

I guess the point here this morning is that God wants us all to realize that, although we cannot achieve righteousness in our own efforts nor in any way on our own behalf, we DO have the righteousness granted to us by God through our faith in, and acceptance of, Jesus as Lord and Savior in our lives.

I can't say how much I love to have those thoughts that have been put into my head (and the music that is there, as well) backed up by what crosses my desk as I search Scripture. Today, exactly that happened. Today, I am more than just a little grateful. I wish I had better words to express my thanks to God. Well, He certainly knows my heart.

Love, peace, and blessings,

David