Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness… 

                                                                                                                             Romans 4:4-5

I have to admit, this is one of my favorite passages of scripture primarily because it has helped set me free in my understanding of what God has done for me. Just for fun, find someone that you know well and that has been a Christian for quite some time. Ask that person if they are righteous. Now this is just for fun, so don’t lose any friendships over this, but you might be surprised at their answer. There are two very common responses to this question. (1) The person might be hesitant to say out loud that they believe they are righteous and (2) the person may express that they are not feeling very righteous (unless you catch them on a really good day). Both responses come from a faulty concept of believing that one’s righteousness is derived from his/her actions or performance (doing what is good and avoiding what they know is not appropriate). To the person that is hesitant, they do not want to seem spiritually arrogant, because they are attaching their own performance to the term righteousness. For the person not feeling especially righteous, again they are focused on how they are living and performing in their life. If they have been slipping in their devotion to God or have drifted into sin, they are not going to feel very good about themselves because that is how they have chosen to gauge their level of righteousness.

Today’s verse completely eliminates this faulty concept. To the person who does not work (for his salvation or righteousness) but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness (v 5). It would be fine at this point to stop reading, and just praise God for declaring us righteous by our faith, and not by our works. Go ahead and give Him praise. To fully appreciate this biblical truth, it’s important to understand what righteousness means. It is the state of someone who is as they ought to be. It is a condition acceptable to God. Put simply, it is to be right with God. And this is done by faith, by trusting in what Jesus has accomplished for you at the cross. It is for this spiritual freedom that Jesus suffered and died, so that you can enjoy life and be victorious. It is our responsibility to stand firm and to not allow any religious yoke to hinder us from obeying this truth (Galatians 5:1). Your faith in Jesus puts you in a condition that you were designed to experience. This condition is acceptable to God and makes you right with Him, and it’s all accomplished through faith. Do you know whom you’re going to ask the question? Be kind, but I think it will be an eye opening experience for you. Contact me with the responses you get. I would love to hear about them!