DISTINGUISHED BY RIGHTEOUSNESS AND LOVE

By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness^G1343 is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love^G25 his brother. This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love^G25 one another.

1 John 3:10-11

G1343 δικαιοσύνη dikaiosýnē – . . . denotes the state acceptable to God which becomes a sinner’s possession through that faith by which he embraces the grace of God offered him in the expiatory death of Jesus Christ . . .

Thayer’s Greek Lexicon

Believers are credited with the righteousness of Christ the moment we surrender our lives to Him. However, we are also commanded to “practice righteousness” on a day-to-day basis.  This requires a moment-by-moment surrender to that righteousness the Holy Spirit is working within us. We cannot, in our own power, develop a right relationship with a Holy God. Our righteousness is born of our relationship with Jesus. The way we live our lives, how we interact with others, is an outward demonstration of the inward change God has made and is continually making in us. Our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ is another evidence that we belong to God. This love is a choice, an act of our will, to love those in the family of God. John here is reiterating his quote of Jesus in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

Our ability to be righteous and to love others stems from being born into the family of God. Religion and ritual without relationship is dead. Do you find yourself striving and struggling to be obedient to what you know of the Bible? Are you trying to obey God’s word without having a relationship with the Word made flesh? Do a heart check. We cannot do the deeds of God unless we are children of God. If you have never surrendered your life to Jesus, acknowledged His right to your entire being, that is where you must begin. If you have been blessed to be walking with the Lord already, ask His holy Spirit to love others through you and guide you in the path of righteousness. That is a prayer He will answer.

Father, help us to never be so haughty as to think we can be righteous apart from Jesus. Help us to humbly pursue the practice of daily righteousness leaning on the power of the Holy Spirit within us. May Your love for Your children flow through us to our brothers and sisters in Christ.