Righteousness

              right·eous - Morally upright; without guilt or sin

          right·eous·ness - the quality or state of being righteous

"Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness." (Gen. 15:6)

Contrary to what many people believe, righteousness is nothing more than believing God. A lot of folks think that righteousness has to do with the way they live, or the way they do this or that. The Bible says that Abram believed the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Abram was an old man when God came to him in a vision and told him he would be the father of more descendants than he could even count. His wife was nearly as old. But he believed God. And it was what? Credited to him as righteousness.

Righteousness, or "being without guilt or sin", is believing God.

"He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever— holy and awesome is his name." (Ps. 111:9).

"And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." " (Matt. 3:17).

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." (John 3:16-18).

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." (John 3:36).

Do you believe God?

"If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you." (Ex. 15:26).

Do you believe God?

"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." (Heb. 13:5).

Do you believe God?

Too often, we confuse righteousness with holiness. Too often, we claim to believe God, but do we really? Our righteousness is determined by what we believe. Our holiness is determined by what we do.

He says that whoever believes in His Son has eternal life. But we say that whoever believes in His Son and lives a certain way has eternal life.

He says that Jesus has healed our sicknesses on the cross. But our doctor's offices and hospitals are full of patients.

He says He will never leave us or forsake us. But we're always wondering "where is God when I need Him?"

He says He's taken away our guilt on the cross. But we carry it around with us like we're attached to it at the hip.

He says He came to set us free. But we remain in bondage.

He says He'll provide all our needs. But we walk around in constant worry, wondering how we're going to pay the mortgage next month, or the light bill next week.

So the question is...how exactly are we believing God? And how is that affecting our righteousness?

For the moment, we're gonna leave you hanging to give you time to think about it...and soon, if it's His will, we'll have some ways to help you in your righteousness. :0)

"Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness."

Do you believe the Lord?