Righteousness
Galatians 3: 6 – 7
In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.
Righteousness is one of those ideas which confounds us. We often confuse it with holiness. We tend to think it has much to do with our behaviors. It turns out that righteousness is a measure of the condition of our hearts.
I have heard righteousness described as “rightness” with God. I find that a very practical definition. One might say, we stand in our “right” place with God or we are in right standing. In this, we are drawing near to an understanding. Our right standing isn’t about what we’ve done “right” or, indeed, even the absence of having done something wrong. It is not a holiness measure. Paul shows us that right standing with God comes by faith.
In this passage Paul wrote that it was Abraham’s belief, not in God, but in what God said that marked him as righteous. Abraham believed God. That means he counted as truth the words from God. Likewise, Paul wrote, those who also believe God, believe His words and put their faith in Him are the children of Abraham and heirs to all the promises.
I wonder, sometimes, what draws people to be children of God. What causes us to give our lives to God. Purely from self-interest, the promises made to Abraham should motivate people to draw unto God. When we read the promises, do we believe God? Surely, most people desire to walk in the blessing, but do we truly believe that God will cause those things to happen for us?
It is precisely when we take God at His word that He counts us as righteous. I know this is backwards from the way we think. However, we would do well to wrap our minds around this ideal. Even the sin in our lives will not bar us from righteousness if we believe God. Now, that is a huge statement. It flies in the face of convention. However, it is also truth. Am I advocating nonchalance towards sin? Of course not. That is plain foolishness. We are to walk as Jesus walked. However, the walk begins with faith and belief. If we take care of the belief problem, the sin problem will sort itself out.
Ask yourself today whether, or not, you truly believe God and Christ, his son. Do you just believe in them, or do you believe them. See, believing IN God, really doesn’t say much. If you think about it, Satan believes in God. He is a usurper precisely because he believes in God. Yahweh is asking us to believe Him which equates to believing His Word. Challenge yourself to believe what you read in the Bible. May I say, if you are not reading His Word, it is improbable that you can believe it.
I have been sent to Christians rather than to the unsaved. My mission is to call Christians to higher ground, always higher and more enlightened in the things of God. In so doing, we become that family of believers that God desires.
