Do you know what this word means in relation to you? Do you appreciate just how being ‘righteous’ impacts your relationship? To begin with, it’s important to know the scriptural definition of the word -[KJV dictionary):
“Just; accordant to the divine law. Applied to persons, it denotes one who is holy in heart, and observant of the divine commands in practice; as a righteous man. Applied to things, it denotes consonant to the divine will or to justice; as a righteous act. It is used chiefly in theology, and applied to God, to His testimonies and to his saints. The righteous, in Scripture, denote the servants of God, the saints.”
Why am I even talking about righteous? You did see what the last sentence said – denotes the servants of God. And too often we don’t consider the ‘big words’ in scripture like righteous or justified or sanctified when we consider relationship. AND, everything, as in EVERYHING, is based in our relationship with God so being righteous is important! Attainable? Hardly. Isaiah [64:6] tells us that OUR righteousness:
“For we all have become like one who is [ceremonially] unclean [like a leper], And all our deeds of righteousness are like filthy rags;”
So now what do we do? Obviously we can’t rely on our own righteousness. However, the Father has prepared ahead of time for this situation. He and the Son had a plan… our answer is in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 which describes and defines who we are when we accept the free gift of salvation.
“He made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious lovingkindness].” [v. 21]
Because of His lovingkindness we are made acceptable and in right relationship. We ARE righteous. something we never could have attained. HE places us in right standing, which apart from what the Father and Son did for us, would never have happened. We would still be estranged from our creator and savior. But it doesn’t stop there. One of the benefits/blessings is that we can now come Boldly to the throne to find help in times of need (Hebrews 4:14-16). We have a High Priest who understands and intercedes for us.
What if we mess up? Firstly, we can easily assume that this will occur. Since we have taken ourselves out of the status of righteous, we should rush to change this into being back in relationship. Again, because of Jesus’ sacrifice we can once again return because 1 John says in 1:9 AMP
“If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and will forgive our sins and cleanse us continually from all unrighteousness [our wrongdoing, everything not in conformity with His will and purpose].”
Quite honestly, it doesn’t make any significant difference if we intentionally or unintentionally do something that interferes with our relationship… the point is that when we become aware, we run to the Lord and seek His forgiveness and cleansing. One source says that this restores us and our relationship. I especially like that we are restored. Being separated is not a place I want to inhabit.
The point in all this is that righteousness is a crucial part that defines our relationship and we need to be intentional and aware in order to continue this. But that we don’t have to fear that we are undone when we do sin – the Father and Son have already provided for this.
