God is Righteous
My previous post looked at the loving part of God's personality, this post is focusing on the righteousness of God. God's love and His righteousness very much work together. There is no love in God that is not a righteous love, and there is no righteousness in God that does not come from a place of love.
Followers of Jesus, can often easily embrace the love of God but then become uneasy when they are confronted with His righteousness. Why is this so? Well, first, I believe that much of our 21st century 'church' society has taught us that God is loving all the time and a fount of forgiveness; no matter that we continue to sin, because we 'are not perfect'. This teaching can be very dangerous, because it isn't addressing the righteousness and judgment of God.
The loving nature of God seems to be easy to cherish, because many followers of Jesus believe that they can depend on God's love forever; whilst continuing to be a slave to sin. But this is not biblical, this is not right. It is not right, because God's love and His righteousness GO TOGETHER. Eternal life and salvation come from us living righteously and us becoming "the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The loving nature of God seems to be easy to cherish, because many followers of Jesus believe that they can depend on God's love forever; whilst continuing to be a slave to sin. But this is not biblical, this is not right. It is not right, because God's love and His righteousness GO TOGETHER. Eternal life and salvation come from us living righteously and us becoming "the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
God's righteousness is one of His biggest blessings to us. Yes, that's right. His love, His grace, His mercy, His protection, His wisdom, His strength etc. are wonderful things, wonderful gifts, but His righteousness is something wondrous too. Where would we be without our righteous God, our righteous judge? If God was not righteous, then what would we stand for by following Him? We follow Him because He is righteous. Because He sets for us Godly standards that we know to be spiritually and morally right.
To embrace and glorify the righteousness of God is to embrace and glorify who God is, who He has been and who He will always be. The world may change, human beings may change but God stays the same (Hebrews 13:8). He will always be righteous. He will judge the world in His righteousness. He will bring judgment on those who have done evil, without repenting. He will bring justice to those who have been grieved and hurt. God has standards, the Bible is full of His standards. If you skip over the righteousness of God, then you are choosing to skip over the majority of the Bible and the majority of God.
The scriptures below discuss the righteousness of God and how righteousness actually dwells within Him. They also explain the everlasting nature of His righteousness and that through Him we too can become righteous and live righteously.
To embrace and glorify the righteousness of God is to embrace and glorify who God is, who He has been and who He will always be. The world may change, human beings may change but God stays the same (Hebrews 13:8). He will always be righteous. He will judge the world in His righteousness. He will bring judgment on those who have done evil, without repenting. He will bring justice to those who have been grieved and hurt. God has standards, the Bible is full of His standards. If you skip over the righteousness of God, then you are choosing to skip over the majority of the Bible and the majority of God.
The scriptures below discuss the righteousness of God and how righteousness actually dwells within Him. They also explain the everlasting nature of His righteousness and that through Him we too can become righteous and live righteously.
He is righteous
"Righteous are You, O Lord, And upright are your commandments".
Psalm 119:137
"The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He".
Deuteronomy 32:4
"Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne".
Psalm 97:2
"The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds".
Psalm 145:17
"There is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Saviour; There is none except me".
Isaiah 45:21
"Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed his voice".
Daniel 9:14
"'I am the Lord who exercises loving-kindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things", declares the Lord".
Jeremiah 9:23-24
"Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are your ways, King of the nations".
Revelation 15:3
"in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing".
2 Timothy 4:8
Psalm 19:9
"But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? May it never be!".
Romans 3:5
"Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "I have sinned this time; the Lord is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones".
Exodus 9:27
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you".
Matthew 6:33
"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous".
1 John 2:1
Righteousness dwells within Him
"As is Your name, O God, So is Your praise to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness".
Psalm 48:10
"But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness".
Isaiah 5:16
"I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me out to the light, And I will see His righteousness".
Micah 7:9
His righteousness is everlasting
"Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth".
Psalm 119:142
"Splendid and majestic is His work, and His righteousness endures forever".
Psalm 111:3
Through Him we become righteous
"in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing".
2 Timothy 4:8
"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him".
2 Corinthians 5:21
"in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth".
Ephesians 4:22-24
God's righteousness will always exist. We have already seen above that "His righteousness endures forever". Whether we discover His righteousness in this life or once we stand before Him, we will all discover it one day. So, why not choose today? Why not choose today to learn about and embrace the righteousness of God?
When you embrace the righteousness of God, you come to learn, quickly, that unrighteousness plays no part in God's expectations of His children. Unrighteousness will become distasteful to you and you will be taking greater and greater steps towards righteousness for yourself and your own life. This should be the effect that understanding God's righteousness has on you. You should be learning what God says is unrighteous and repenting of your involvement in such things and then moving away from them and closer to God. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you, more and more, what true righteousness looks like and then ask God to help equip you to live a righteous life.
If we want to be like Jesus, then we need to be righteous.
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