What is righteousness? Righteousness is the “rightness” of God in your spirit. The rightness of God in your health, your finances, your relationships, and your mind. Righteousness is a gift. You were made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). Righteousness came to Abraham because he believed. It was not because he worked but a belief in a promise. The promise that God was good and that he would make Abraham great.

You are righteous. Not because of you but because of him. His testimony will be that he has created a righteous family from his blood. His seed has created a new species. Something the world has never seen before. It’s yours if you believe. The billion dollars is yours if you believe it is. The door is open if you believe it is. The life you want is there if you believe it is.

God loves the audacious because the audacious respond to his word. They have no shame. They are too desperate for breakthroughs to settle. That attracts God! He loves the scent of faith. That leaning of the whole personality upon God. It moves him to respond. He loves it when we take him at his word and pull on his resources.

Romans 6:11

10 For by the death He died, He died to sin (ending His relation to it) once for all; and the life that He lives, He is living to God (in unbroken fellowship with Him).

11 Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God (living in unbroken fellowship with Him) in Christ Jesus.

12 Let not sin therefore rule as King in your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies, to make you yield to its cravings and be subject to its lusts and evil passions.

You are dead to sin. To be “dead” means to be without life, to be unresponsive. God judged that sinful heart and destroyed it on the cross. He then outfitted you with a new nature. One that is like God. At conversion, your lustful tendencies were eradicated by the torn flesh of the lover. With a cry that pierced the veil in the temple, He yelled “It Is Finished.” When he died so did you and when you were raised to life you were in him. You are now partakers of resurrection life. Resurrection power lives in your spirit.

Why?

If all this has been bought for us why are so many Christians in sin? The reality is that most Christians chase their tail spiritually. They constantly pray for things they already have in God. It’s the proverbial dog chasing the tail connected to its body. Most Christians I know are always striving to get into the Holy of Holies. You know how hard it is to get into a room you’re already in. Imagine the frustration of trying to accomplish something that’s already done and living like it’s not. We do that with the cross all the time. We never allow our hearts to marinate in the reality of our identity before God. How he sees us is tantamount to our Christian experience. When we strive for what is already ours, we position ourselves to be religious.

Performance

We are conditioned to judge ourselves based on our performance. Our jobs and our lives are dominated by metrics and stats. The common phrase: “What have you done for me lately?” comes to mind. Our hearts have been focused for too long on us. The constant self-examination is not healthy. It takes our eyes off Christ. Looking at Jesus is the only way to our transformation. Condemnation is a cycle that brings you to a religious lifestyle. The only way to bear fruit is to abide. To be. To trust in what Christ has done. You can’t leave the tent of meeting because the oil of God is resting on you.

Practical Steps

Repent and turn away from negative thinking. Self-hatred, self-loathing, and critical thinking must go.

Focus constantly on who Jesus is. Worship, pray, seek him

Focus constantly on “Christ in you, the hope of Glory.” Seek God knowing that you are who he says you are. You are righteous and delightful.

Realize that he is more committed to you than you could ever be to him and be patient. Change can take time.

Prayer

Father God, I just pray that Spirit of wisdom and revelation, the Holy Spirit would just breathe on these words and touch my heart. Forgive me for attributing the devil’s work to you. Forgive me for saying you were good but in my heart of hearts believing otherwise. Thank you for forgiving me and helping me see you as you truly are. Help me love me the way that you love me. Help me to love myself.