Many people have given their life to God: they have confessed in their mouth the Lord Jesus and believed in their heart that God has raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9), then sealed their salvation through water baptism. It is beautiful, but is not the end by any means. God’s work of salvation has nothing to do with a location change. In fact, Jesus prays in John 17 that we would not be taken out of this world, but kept from the evil one. To be kept from the evil one requires a separation from the world that only God can provide. James 4:7 says, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (NKJV). The word “submit” in the greek —”hupotasso”—is an agreement with God’s will. It’s important for us to saturate ourselves in God’s will, which is His Word. When we do, we will find the resurrection power that lives within us. Colossians 1 reveals that we have been reconciled to God in the body of Jesus’ flesh in which we are presented as holy, blameless, and above reproach in His sight (v. 21-22). In other words we have been made righteous. We have right standing with God through the Son. We must remain fixated on our right standing with God. The bible commands us to renew our mind that we may “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). The new life that the resurrection power produces requires a righteousness consciousness—a mind fixated on the fact that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
Though many have received the saving hand of God, far too many of them make minimum impact in their surrounding world. The problem seems to be in understanding what Jesus has done, and the life that we now have access to. This lack of understanding looks like false humility, which then produces insecurity. Insecure people operate in their own ability, not Christ’s. Insecurity restricts you from the things of God, because you feel as if you cannot conquer. Unrighteousness is fixated on failure, whereas righteousness is concerned with what is right. The nature of God is to see beyond face value and place a demand on created
purpose. God was well pleased with all of His creation, and Jesus has restored us back to that place. Jesus is the perfect representation of the Father. When He is dying on the cross and says, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:24), He meant it. Forgiveness that produces right standing with God is the will of God. We will be able to walk in the Spirit, not fulfilling lustful desires, when we begin to agree with what God says and did. Righteousness removes the focus on what we have done (sin), and focuses on what Jesus did and finished. That is our identity!
We must learn to grow with what is being made right. We are moving closer and closer towards the image of the Son that we have been predestined to be conformed to (Romans 8:29). It is powerful how Paul conveys the Holy Spirit dwelling on the inside of us in Colossians 1. He refers to the phenomenon as a mystery hidden from ages and from generations (v. 26). We are continually being transformed by the goodness of God that lives on the inside. He dwells only in that which He has created with His own hands. No matter how it is put, the Holy of Holies dwells inside of us. We are the Holy of Holies. You cannot get any holier than that! This is how we are presented before God through Jesus. It is such a freeing reality, however this truth is not confidently secured in the minds of many Christians. It is not pleasing to God to meditate on a sinful life before Jesus, or to confess opposite of what He is saying in His Word. God says that you are a son, that you are anointed, that you are seated in Him. It is our privilege to wake up every morning to receive who God is, and yield to what He produces through our lives. Righteousness is not focused on sin at all. In fact, righteousness has no desire for sin. We are not waking up waiting to sin, but rather excited to be further clothed in righteousness. We are excited of the purpose we have been gifted by the grace of God. Another day to know God more and have unbroken fellowship. Sin is not even on the agenda of righteousness. Putting on what God has provided for us through His Son is true humility, thus attracting the grace of God upon our lives. God gives grace to the humble, and righteousness is the
landing strip for the grace of God. If there is a desire to receive divine influence that transforms the individual, and impacts the world, start by positioning yourself to line up with God’s will for reconciliation between you and Himself! James instructs us to draw near to God. That requires boldness that is prompted by the revelation of righteousness. When you know that you have been made right with God, you will seek God first. Intimacy is the byproduct of a righteousness consciousness where we will continually be an instrument of righteousness for all of our days.
In short, righteousness makes wrong things right. It reverses a wrong way of thinking, doing, working, and so forth. When there is understanding of the right standing with God that we have, there will no longer be a strive for perfection. It is self-righteous to attempt to fulfill God’s Word in your own strength. Righteousness takes us higher than that. It elevates us to a place where we are no longer trying to be, but are convinced that we already are. This is the place where the will of God in our lives will automatically occur. Be convinced that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! This new life in Christ is about the immortal life of God inside of us producing constant change, producing heaven on earth, and glorifying God. Proverbs 12: 28 confirms that “in the way of righteousness is life, and its pathway there is no death.” We have already died to sin, and are alive unto righteousness now. We must know that this is where we stand at all times. In this place is an abundant, deathless, life that is well pleasing in the sight of God. Our sights are not set on the things of the world, but are focused on God. It is the pure in heart that see God (Matthew 5:8), and a righteousness consciousness enables us to remain pure by yielding to the Holy Spirit. That is what Jesus paid for. That is freedom.