Righteousness pt 11

It might seem odd to say this, but most of us don’t give much thought to our thoughts. I know we can have thoughts that don’t have any real significance: like what we’re going to have for lunch. However, I want to talk about the deep thoughts of our hearts. These are the thoughts that will influence the direction of our lives.

We might not think that our lives are the result of our thoughts, but Proverbs 23:7a says “For as he (a person) thinks within himself (his heart), so he is.” Our thoughts determine who we are. So, we can say with certainty that the current state of our lives is a direct reflection of what we think about ourselves and others.

Now that we know this, we should think about the direction our lives will go if the majority of our thoughts are negative, especially our thoughts about ourselves. Not all of us talk to ourselves out loud, but we do in our own minds.

What are we saying about us to us? Do our inner voices sound something like this: “This is as good as it’s ever going to get.” “Nothing ever goes my way.”?

Or is it more serious than that? There are stories about people who deal with depression and anxiety whose constant thoughts are, “I am nothing and will always be nothing.” “I’ve messed my whole life up beyond repair.” These thoughts play like a song on repeat in their heads all day, every day.

There are some of us who live with thoughts like this, and it shapes our whole lives. We never rise above them. It’s like living under a dark cloud where it seems no light can penetrate.

The grace of God can break through that darkness. We are saved and made righteous by grace, and by now we know that righteousness is right-standing with God. It means we are accepted and loved by God.

While the world and the negative people in it have probably treated us like a throwaway and told us that we’re insignificant, God steps in and calls us accepted and precious in His sight. If we have the Creator of the Universe saying that we are important, it probably means that we’re important, right?

This should drastically change the way we think about ourselves. Believing in and meditating on our righteousness in Christ is adopting God’s thoughts about us.

Isaiah 55:8-9 says “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’”

We will begin to experience the higher life God has for us when we start to think the higher thoughts He thinks about us.

It’s as simple as this: when we have negative thoughts about ourselves we should say, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ. I am accepted and loved by God.” Say it out loud. When we do this, we are lining up our opinion about ourselves with God’s opinion about us. Try it. I promise it will change your life.

Righteousness Pt 10

How do we avoid the trap of self-righteousness and condemnation? We maintain a consciousness of our righteousness in Christ. When we are mindful of our right-standing with our heavenly Father we can sidestep the deceptions the devil will throw at us.

However, this kind of thinking doesn’t happen by accident. It has to be maintained. It has to be kept. The great thing about God is that He doesn’t make it complicated. He doesn’t save us and make us righteous to abandon us. Jude 1:24 says “Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.”

Notice that it’s not our power that keeps us from falling away. It’s the power and ability of God. It is our choice whether or not we stay close to Him. That’s how we maintain a righteousness consciousness; by staying close to God.

We let His words become uppermost in our hearts and minds. We’ll never be able to keep a consciousness of our right-standing in Christ if we are constantly feeding on the negative words of this world and our flesh.

Romans 8:6 tells us “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” Setting our minds on selfish, fleshly desires brings about disastrous results.

Colossians 3:16 instructs us how to live our lives. It says, “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.”

We have to allow His word to fill our lives. We can’t be full of the world and full of God. It is one or the other, and only one will keep us from falling away.

Let’s make a commitment to empty ourselves of our flesh and the world by letting the word of Christ live in us richly. When we do this we’ll stand strong in our righteousness and easily avoid the pitfalls of self-righteousness and condemnation.

Righteousness pt 9

In my previous posts I’ve written about self-righteousness and condemnation, and how they severely hinder our relationship with Jesus. What we also need to know about these two hindrances is that they can form a cycle in our lives, a cycle that can be difficult to break.

It goes like this: Self-righteousness puts us under the law. The law gives us knowledge of our sin, then that knowledge causes us to condemn ourselves and that condemnation leads to us distancing from our Heavenly Father due to the shame we feel.

If we let the mindset of condemnation take root in our lives we can eventually become prideful in our own shame. We think we have arrived at some great revelation in the discovery of our own unworthiness. We consider ourselves the second class citizens of God’s kingdom, the step-children of His family. We think that we are walking on thin ice with God, one step away from being cast out and getting “what we deserve.”

The next step is judging those who don’t do the same. We think to ourselves “Who do all these people think they are? Walking around like they aren’t one mistake away from God’s wrath and vengeance.” We think that everyone needs to have a low opinion of themselves the way we do.

This is not a revelation from the Holy Spirit. You cannot find this standard of living in the Word of God. This is a lie from the devil to keep us ashamed, separated and afraid of our Heavenly Father.

In and of ourselves we absolutely deserve God’s punishment, and the pain of a Christless eternity, but we are no longer in ourselves. Colossians 2:10 says “and in Him you have been made complete.” We are now in Christ, and Romans 8:1 tells us “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.”

So, living our lives being afraid of God and judging others for not doing the same is not true Christianity. It is false religion created by the devil and perpetuated by bad doctrine.

John 3:17 says “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

Now we can see that we are no longer living in fear of getting “what we deserve” from God. If God were interested in giving us what we deserve, He never would’ve sent His son Jesus Christ to save us.

God’s judgment and wrath was spilled out on His only begotten Son when Jesus suffered and died on the Cross. He did it so we could be saved by grace.

And what is grace? A basic definition tells us that “it’s getting what we don’t deserve.”

We don’t deserve the righteousness we have in Christ, but we receive it by grace. So, let’s stop living under condemnation. Let’s stop putting ourselves back under the law. Let’s allow God, Who began a good work in us, to bring it to completion.