Righteousness Conscious
ICS Daily Devotions
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Righteousness is the blessing that has been imputed to us at salvation. Righteousness means the character or quality of being right or just. It gives us the ability to stand in the presence of God without guilt, condemnation, or inferiority. Sadly. many believers pray like beggars or orphans, hoping God might notice them. The truth is: the righteous shall live by faith in the living God.
God has given to all believers the ability to stand before Him as though sin had never existed in our lives because Jesus has redeemed us with His blood! Righteousness is a standing of uprightness with God—a positional truth. It doesn’t mean that we are perfect, but that God has chosen to see us as righteous in Christ.
When we know God has justified us, it will have a powerful effect on our walk with Him. God wants to do great exploits through every disciple of Jesus Christ, and each of us is unique and has a specific calling in life, but we often live under God’s standard and calling because of our limited understanding of how God views us.
Ephesians 4:24 (NKJV) And that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Our righteous position is found in the new creation of inner man. The Bible says that God created it in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, the new creation in you after you are born again is seen as righteous and holy before God!
Righteousness is a position that you have with your heavenly Father as though you had never sinned. This position came about after you received Christ. You are a new creation. The fact that you have been made righteous by faith means that in Christ, God now judges you as righteous, and you meet with His approval according to His own standard of what is right.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Righteousness is the very reason for the plan of redemption. We cannot achieve anything before God based on our own strength. God, in His abundance of grace, allows His only begotten Son to be made sin for us, for us to be hidden in Him. We have this right standing before God due to Jesus’ work of atonement. This righteousness comes from God, through faith in Him. It allows us to have a restored fellowship with Him—the same kind of relationship that Adam had in the Garden of Eden before the Fall.
Reflection: Are you approaching God with confidence in your position as His child, or with guilt, fear, and unworthiness? How would a deeper awareness of your righteousness in Christ change the way you pray and live?
Sermon Series： The Power of Two: Unleashing the Heavenly Force of the Prayer of Agreement
