Righteousness
By Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier
To be righteous is to be right. We all like to be right. Even when we know deep down inside that we are doing something wrong, we still want to be right. We call wrong things right and right things wrong. We call evil good and good evil. We make up excuses for our actions. We justify our deeds in order to make them right. We ignore our sin. We try to follow rules, laws, methods, and techniques in order to be righteous. It is the way of the world to be self-righteous. In our own eyes, we see ourselves as right and others as wrong.
In God’s eyes sin is sin. It is God who ultimately decided what is right and wrong. He calls evil things evil and good things good. God alone is holy, righteous, and good. He does not accept our excuses for our wrong actions. In God’s sight, we are unable to justify ourselves. Only God can justify the ungodly by declaring our sins to be the sins of Jesus and declaring the righteousness of Jesus to by our righteousness. Rather than just ignore our sin, God removes it. Because of Jesus, God does not count our sin against us. God proclaims that because of Jesus, we are right with Him. To those who believe this promise, God reckons them to be righteous. "And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness," (Romans 4:5, ESV)
