WEEK 38 – DAY 1

RIGHTEOUS BY FAITH

And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith . . . Philippians 3:9

Any righteousness we have truly comes from God. As Paul points out, our righteousness comes through faith in Christ and even that faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). God has prepared good works for us to be involved in before we were even aware of the paths we should take (Ephesians 2:10).  We do nothing to earn our justification or merit the label “righteous”. God works in and through us to do His will.

That doesn’t mean we can just lie on the sofa and wait for God to move us to righteous living. If we truly rely on Christ for our salvation and believe His word is true, then we will have a desire to know and act upon His word. Just as a bride’s desire is for her husband, our desire will be to know Jesus intimately because we are the bride of Christ. As that bride tells her friends about her love and wears his ring, we will tell everyone about the Lord and wear His robe of righteousness. We will not want to bring shame to His name.

Have you ever noticed that people who have been married a long time begin to look and act like each other? As we learn more about our Lord through the study of His love letters and grow closer to Him through prayer and worship, we will exhibit more of His characteristics. His righteousness will shine through our lives because His Holy Spirit lives within us.

Father, thank You that although we can never measure up to Your standard by our own power, You have provided a way for us to be made righteous through faith in Christ. Help that change in us to be evident to others to Your honor and glory. Help us to truly understand what it means to abide in You (John 15:5).