Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Righteousness
Job 35:6-7If you sin, how does that affect him? If your sins are many, what does that do to him?If you are righteous, what do you give to him, or what does he receive from your hand?God obviously is trying to get something through to me, as I a have been pondering and trying to understand this "righteousness" concept lately. He continues to bring it from every angle, and it appears in scripture every time I open it up. Follow my thought process, as I try to sort it out.
God is God and is not swayed or changed by man. Whether we sin or do righteous acts, what does that matter to him? Does it change Him? What determines righteous acts and sinful acts? Is it the action, the attitude, the heart? Why should it matter than how we live?Job 34:12 It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice.
God has to punish sin, it will not go unpunished. He is righteousness itself. His character is unchanging, He is just, therefor no sin will or can go unpunished. Which begs the question, what is sin? The definition of sin is "A transgression of a religious or moral law, especially when deliberate." But scripture indicates that before salvation we are sinful in nature. Our only choice is to be slaves to sin. We know no other way. It is inherited from Adam.
Wikipedia definition of righteous: an English term meaning "right ways". Also, a theological concept in [Christianity] "an attribute that implies that a person's actions are justified, and can have the connotation that the person has been judged or reckoned as leading a life that is pleasing to God." Also "used as an attribute for God".
So, God is righteous in character. He can never not be righteous. Job 34:12b It is unthinkable that God would do wrong. We are sinful by nature. Only by the grace of God, through Christ, will we be presented as righteous before Him. Scripture says that one day we will give account for our lives. Those who love God will obey Him. We are only justified by the blood, yet somehow our actions count, too. God is just, and has no other option but to punish sin. So, in his sovereign plan, Jesus was allowed to take the punishment on the cross (a perfect lamb slain) for our transgressions.A Christian's life, therefor, is a testimony to what Christ did. It is evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit working in one's life. God cannot even look upon sin, so without this transformation we are cast away from him forever.
My mind sometimes has a hard time understanding it, but my heart knows. God has saved me. He continues to show me the depths of my own sin, which makes me acknowledge more and more his grace and mercy. My life is to be a testimony to Him, revealing what I know of His glory that will go on for eternity. Somehow, that is transformed into righteousness, not by my doing, but His.
