• Gift of Righteousness quote
    Godly Living Posts / Quotes

    The Gracious Gift of Righteousness

    March 24, 2024 - By 

    Righteousness is a gift from God.

    For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

    Romans 5:17

    If you struggle, as many believers do, with whether you deserve to be blessed, favored, and victorious, you are asking the wrong question.

    The question you should be asking is, does Jesus deserve to be blessed, favored, and victorious? Because you are in Christ, having a blessed future is not contingent on how much you strive to be perfect or how hard you work at changing yourself. It is contingent on the person of Jesus.

    The Bible proclaims, “as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). Does Jesus deserve to be blessed, favored, and victorious? Then so do you!

    This is what being in Christ Jesus means. It means that today, God assesses you and sees you based on the perfection of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ righteousness is your righteousness. In fact, the Bible explains that because Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us, we are now the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).

    What is the gift of righteousness?

    “Righteousness” is a legal term. It means to have right standing before God. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words defines righteousness as “that gracious gift of God to men whereby all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are brought into right relationship with God.” In other words, your right standing before God is based upon Jesus’ right standing before God.

    Today, you are as righteous as Jesus because your righteousness is from Him. He purchased it for you at the cross.

    When you received Him as your Lord and Savior, He took away all your unrighteousness once and for all. He gave you His gift of righteousness. This righteousness is something that you can never obtain or achieve through your right doing. It can only be received by your right believing in Jesus.

    And do you know what happens when you receive this gift of righteousness? The Bible declares that “those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:17).

    Hey, when you reign, your addictions don’t. When you reign, sicknesses don’t. When you reign, fear, depression, and every obstacle that is obstructing you from living your life to the fullest will be torn down and flushed out!

    Read more devotionals by Pastor Joseph Prince, here.

  • Righteousness quote
    Godly Living Posts / Quotes

    Is righteousness changeable?

    December 18, 2023 - By 

    Righteousness is believed to be changeable by some people. That is, they think, when they make a mistake, God takes away the gift. On the contrary, God’s gifts are irrevocable.

    Then the LORD said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.”

    Genesis 7:1

    Remember how Noah was safe in the ark when the floodwaters came? While Noah was not perfect, God saw him as righteous because of his faith in God (Heb. 11:7).

    When the flood came, everyone outside the ark died, but Noah and his family were protected and saved. Why? Because they were in the ark, which is a type of Christ, who is our salvation (Acts 4:12).

    The ark didn’t have windows along its sides, only near the roof. The truth here is that God does not want you to focus on all the darkness, terror, and evil that are around you and in the world. He wants you to look up and know that His Son is coming back for you.

    I want you to see something else: I believe there were times when Noah might have lost his balance and fallen as the storm waters crashed against the ark. But Noah fell in the ark; he never fell out of the ark.

    Similarly, for the believer today, when the devil tempts you and you fall, you don’t fall out of your position in Christ; you are still in Christ. In the book of Proverbs, it says, “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again” (Prov. 24:16).

    You see, a believer doesn’t fall in and out of righteousness. Our righteousness today is a gift from our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:17). This means that even though we may fail from time to time because we are imperfect human beings, we are still in Christ our ark and do not forfeit His blessings of protection.

    Now, in case you are wondering, does this make someone want to live recklessly? Certainly not! I believe that knowing you are righteous in Christ makes you live responsibly and in honor to the Lord (Rom. 6:10–14). The revelation of our righteousness in Christ produces righteous living (Titus 2:11–12).

    Devotional by Pastor Joseph Prince from New Creation Church, Singapore.

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