A Righteousness Restored...

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God..."

-2 Corinthians 5 v 21

It seems we have to work in order to get a lot of what we want. We have to work for a business/company/corporation/conglomerate in order to get wages. We have to study in order to get good grades in school. We have to train in order to become better at sports. Lets face it, we as human beings work quite a lot.

And lets face it, when we work, we get into routines. And sure, routines in themselves aren't a bad thing, but as previously discussed, a) they make life less of an excitement, b) we aren't prepared for when something completely new comes along (such as a gigantic cock-roach claiming to be a mad scientist...Sorry, saw Monsters vs Aliens yesterday) and c) if they control our attitudes and beliefs, they can be corrupting.

And none is so corrupting than trying to attain righteousness. Righteousness is actually a very very good thing. Its what we all should attain to become. After all, the Bible declares that it means holy, upright, strong and just. I wouldn't mind being all those things, would you?

So where does the problem arise. Simple, like all the problems in the world, it derives from either Satan, the world itself, or ourselves. In this case, its ourselves and the world. You see, writing the last paragraph or two was very difficult to not make it seem like I'm not trying to attain it. But a lot of Christians today, and many other people believe, that you can only gain righteousness through how you live your life.

Life becomes a set of rules.

Rules that take over you, so that instead of loving God, you begin to become idolatrous. You may start worshiping control, time, safety, organisation, or even peace and quiet so much, that your life is focused on nothing more than to achieve those things. And you believe that if you achieve those things, you'll become righteous...

That my friends, is one of the greatest mistakes the world is making today.

By believing in the fact that they have to do something in order to achieve righteousness, their lives focus on achieving what has already been given to them! That's right, righteousness is already ours for the taking. How you may ask.

Through Jesus' blood.

This is the difference between religion and The Gospel. Jesus has already given us righteousness through His death on the cross. Religion focuses on working in order to achieve this righteousness.

Here, I'm going to give a list of the 10 major differences between religion and the Gospel:

1) Religion says that God will only love us if we obey His rules. The Gospel on the other hand says that He already loves me, and the evidence is through the life and work of Jesus. And because of His work on the cross, we are free to choose to obey God out of love. "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins..."

-1 John 4 v 7-10

2) Religion says that the world is full of good and bad people. The Gospel says that we are all sinners, and we all have the chance to partake of Jesus' work through confession, repentance, and following Him. "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus..."

-Romans 3 v 23-24

3)Religion is about what you do. The Gospel is about what Jesus has done.

4)Religion is about getting from God. The Gospel is about getting God himself.

5)Religion sees hardship as punishment from God, and while God does discipline His children, He is a loving God, who isn't concerned with a long list of rules, but rather cares deeply if you we love Him.

6)Religion is about you. The Gospel however says that we are called to serve each other, just as Christ came to serve us.

7)Religion is focused on the outer image that you portray. The Gospel says that God is far more concerned about the state of your inner being.

8)Because religion is about what we do, there is no assurance in our standing with God come the Day of Judgement. The Gospel on the other hand says that if you believe in Jesus and His work on the cross, your assurance is guaranteed. "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us..."

-1 John 5 v 11-14

9) Religion simply doesn't work because it results in either pride or despair depending on our outlook. The Gospel on the other hand says that Jesus brings joy and salvation. It teaches us that our righteousness is not our own, which leads onto mine final point.

10) Religion is about getting your own self-righteousness. The Gospel states that through Jesus, we have been given a gift-righteousness.

You see? Jesus has already given us righteousness in full. It is gained through faith in Jesus, not through rigorous rule keeping. It gives us a new relationship with God, and it changes our character of the better.

"What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith..."

-Philippians 3 v 8-9

So in short, how do we gain righteousness?

Simple...

Let Him be the Nexus of our lives...