God's Gift of 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

One of the most crucial truths we are to carry in our hearts as Believers concerns our standing with God.  Righteousness is really one of the most important, if not the most important principle of our faith.  In order to receive anything from God, you must believe with all of your heart that you have a right to it.  You need to know that you have a right to receive healing, prosperity, and soundness of mind.  Condemnation or sin consciousness steals and kills.  It steals God’s blessings from you and can be deadly to your physical body.  People who are sin conscious do not believe that they have a right to receive the blessing of God.  People who are in condemnation have constant thoughts about all their past mistakes and everything that they have done wrong.  These negative thoughts zap your strength, zeal for life, and pursuit of the purpose for which God created you.  Additionally, condemnation often results in sickness in the body and/or even mental disorders.  Righteousness is this tool that guarantees that you are in right standing with God and have the right to receive divine health, financial prosperity, soundness in your relationships, and peace of mind.  The word for “righteousness” in the Greek means purity, just, innocent, free, and correctness of thinking, feeling, and acting.  You must think, feel, and act “correctly” or in line with what God has said about you in terms of your purity before Him.  God has given you the gift of righteousness according to today’s Scripture.  This righteousness has nothing to do with your performance.  This righteousness is solely the byproduct of the death of Jesus on the cross.  Just like when you were born, you were born a sinner through no fault of your own but through Adam’s sin in the Garden, when you are born again you are made righteous through no actions of your own but because of the death of Jesus on the cross.  Regardless of what you have done or do wrong, you are still righteous.   Second Corinthians 5:21 states that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  This verse does not say you are the righteousness of God only when you do “right things” it suggests that you are the righteousness of God all the time.  Similarly, Isaiah 54:14 says that “in righteousness shalt thou be established.”  When you know that you are righteous, you will be established in God’s love for you and eagerly expect to receive from Him regardless of what you have done wrong.  Being conscious of righteousness does not make people want to sin but to act on and walk in that righteousness.  Romans 5:21 takes it a step further and explains that being conscious of your righteousness will cause you to tap into God’s unlimited supply through grace.  In essence, you will be able to access everything God has supplied for you in His grace because you know that you are righteous and in right standing with God.  Don’t let this precious gift of righteousness that God has purchased and paid a high price for through His own Son’s blood go to waste.  Receive it regardless of what you have done or do and tap into every blessing that God desires to give you!