Righteousness VS Right Living

A lot of believers assume living right is what makes them righteous and are therefore reluctant to embrace or claim that they are righteous. A common saying in the Church goes “Nobody Holy Pass”, “Nobody is righteous, we are all just trying our best”, “We are all sinners, nobody is a saint”, and so on.

These sayings are invalid and contradictory to the WORD of God.

A Christian is born of God and seeded with the GIFT of Righteousness from the moment he gives his life to Jesus Christ and becomes born again.

If you believe in Jesus and confess Him as your Lord and Saviour, you automatically become RIGHTEOUS, hence the saying “I am the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus”.

This is what the Word of God says, and this is what you must believe.

Right living is the expected behavioral code and moral upstanding that many believers usually want to use to measure if they are righteous or not. Jesus lived right, and he was still crucified by religious people for the sin of blasphemy because he stated boldly that He Is the Son of God and one with the Father.

Right living is tied to societal expectations, norms, mores, rules, regulations, conventions, and doctrines. If you do everything the way society wants, you consider yourself to be living right. If you don’t, you consider yourself a sinner.

If you do everything according to the doctrine of your church, you consider yourself as being in Right Standing, and if you don’t, you consider yourself as being in error or in Sin.

You can see how this then makes it obvious that what many of us believe is righteousness is not from God; it is from societal, cultural, and traditional expectations.

We all want to fit in and do things according to the set order of society.

A Christian man and woman living together without “church marriage” are said to be “LIVING IN SIN”. This is so WRONG.

The church was not founded by Jesus to be the marriage registry of heaven or to determine if someone is having sex legally or illegally. These wrong beliefs are deeply ingrained in us, and we must eschew them from our consciousness

We are righteous because God declared us so, and that is the position we must affirm and insist on all the time, regardless of where we are in our standing with the church and society.

For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sins; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21).

One day, I asked a born-again gentleman: “Are you righteous?” He paused to think for a while and replied, “I am working on it.” “So, how are you going to know when you are finally righteous?” I quizzed him further. At that point, he didn’t know what more to say. Like that gentleman, many Christians don’t think they are righteous because they equate righteousness with right-living. They look at their actions to rate their righteousness. But there is a difference between the two concepts.

The Bible says “….if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17).

When you received Christ into your hearts, God gave you righteousness as a gift. It’s not something you worked for. Righteousness is the nature of God that is imparted to your human spirit that produces in you the ability to stand before God without guilt, inferiority or condemnation.

Righteousness is that nature of God that produces in you the rightness of God and gives you right standing with God. Now, right living, on the other hand, is doing what is right and required of society as a way of life. They are not the same.

Right living is the product of righteousness. A righteous man makes right decisions and lives right before God. A sinner makes sinful decisions and lives in sin outside of God.

No believer could live right until he’s first of all righteous; God can only require a man to live right after that man has been made righteous.

This is the reason He imparted righteousness to you freely. The ability to do the right things can only flow naturally from a righteous person. Now some of your actions may still be imperfect but that doesn’t in any way impact on your righteousness. What you need to do is get the Word of God into you and righteousness will find expression through your actions.

When you were born again, you became as righteous as Jesus is, for you were made righteous with His righteousness. You can’t be more righteous than you are right now, for God’s righteousness is perfect, which is what you already have in Chríst–and you can’t improve on perfect. That righteousness is in your spirit, and it produces in you right living—the ability to do right!

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Righteousness is the nature of God in you, producing in you the rightness of God: the ability to do right and fulfill the will of the Father. God is always right; it’s His nature to be right. This nature of righteousness is at work in us. So in our Kingdom, we do righteousness; we walk in righteousness and do works of righteousness; we manifest the goodness of God to the world.

It was for the same reason that the Pharisees and Sadducees had a problem with the good works that Jesus did; they misunderstood Him. If in your place of work, for example, you did something you thought was good and required commendation, but instead you found yourself being persecuted for your good works, don’t feel bad about it.

Just because you’re good and doing the right thing doesn’t mean everybody is going to be cheering you on. There might be those who’ll resist you and try to make you swerve from your path; they might even call you evil, in spite of your good works; maintain your composure. Refuse to change. Stay the course with the Word of God in your heart and in your mouth.

Remember, you’re the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus; therefore, it’s your calling to express His righteousness. See yourself that way, regardless of the pressures and challenges that may tend to provoke you to compromise. See yourself just as the Word says: “…greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4); this means that you’re greater than your adversaries, detractors, and persecutors. You’re a victor forever.

Sincerity Isn’t Righteousness

For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17).

In your walk with God, you have to understand that there’s a huge difference between sincerity and righteousness. Sometimes, we think that God should look at our sincerity and count it for righteousness, but it’s not so. No matter how sincere you are, it’ll never amount to righteousness. God doesn’t hear and answer your prayers because you’re sincere, but because you’re righteous; because of Jesus; and your righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus.

The Bible says, “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life” (Romans 5:18).

Righteousness is what gives you right standing in the presence of God. Your sincerity never gives you right standing before the Father.

Having been declared righteous, you have a right to be heard in the presence of God; you have peace with God. Never think of God as one you need to “impress” with your good works so He’ll accept you or do anything for you; Jesus already impressed Him in your behalf.

What You must do to walk in Righteousness:

Childlike Confidence in The Word

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth…it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it (Isaiah 55:11).

The Word of God is trustworthy; it’s living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. God’s desire for us is to be built by the Word; we excel and make progress by the Word.

Jesus said, “…Truly I say to you, unless you… become like little children [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving], you can never enter the kingdom of heaven [at all]” (Matthew 18:3 AMPC).

Exhibiting childlike confidence in the Word doesn’t make you gullible or naïve. Rather, it means you’re smart and functioning in the wisdom of God. Many make the Word of non-effect in their own lives because they argue with the Word; they always try to rationalize the Word.

Children don’t try to rationalize things; they simply act from their standpoint of innocence, trusting the one who’s leading, guiding or instructing them. That’s how we ought to be with the Word.

Receive The Word with Gladness

The Word illuminates, informs and builds your spirit, bringing you into the place that the Lord has already given you, helping you understand the life that you’re supposed to live. The Word gives you divine insight into mysteries and secrets. So, when you’re studying the Word on your own, or hearing it being preached or taught, rejoice and receive it with gladness.

And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified (Acts 20:32).

When you receive the Word with gladness, very easily, it imparts faith and courage to your spirit. The Bible lets us know that in Christ, you’ve obtained an inheritance; that’s a legal reality. However, for you to use, enjoy, and walk in the vital reality of your inheritance in Christ, you need the Word. The Word of God—the Bible—is the book of your inheritance. As you study and meditate therein, all that rightly belongs to you in Christ isn’t only unveiled to you, but becomes your vital experience.

Just believe the Word of God and declare it even if it makes no sense to you in your thinking and every manner of conversation.

I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

-GSW-