YOU HAVE TO BE RIGHTEOUS TO LIVE RIGHT

...They which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17).

Many don’t understand the difference between righteousness and right living. Being born again, you’ve been made righteous by God, and that’s the only reason God would expect you to live right. He wouldn’t expect someone who isn’t righteous to live right. Religion teaches the opposite: that if you would live right, then God would make you righteous. That’s not what the Word teaches. Some say, "If you would just live right, then God will accept you"; that’s also inconsistent with the truth of God’s Word.

Righteousness gives birth to right living. A man can only live right when he is righteous. A dog barks because it’s a dog. A cat can’t bark, because it’s not a dog. A dog will bark because that’s its nature. In the same vein, after being born again, righteousness is no longer something you’re looking for or trying to attain, but something that you put to work. It’s the nature you were born with in Christ, which now gives you the ability to do right and live righteously to the glory of God.

By virtue of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have been made righteous. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." You’ve been declared righteous by faith: "Therefore being justified (declared righteous) by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). This is the Gospel: that an ungodly person can become righteous by having faith in that which was done by Jesus Christ for us on the Cross.

PRAYER
Dear Father, I thank you today, for giving me your righteousness as a gift. I reign and rule as a king today, as I boldly take advantage of my right standing with you, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

FURTHER STUDY
Romans 5:18-19
Amplified Bible (AMP)
18 Well then, as one man’s trespass (one man’s false step and falling away led) to condemnation for all men, so one Man’s act of righteousness [leads] to acquittal and right standing with God and life for all men.
19 For just as by one man’s disobedience (failing to hear, heedlessness, and carelessness) the many were constituted sinners, so by one Man’s obedience the many will be constituted righteous (made acceptable to God, brought into right standing with Him).