Our beliefs have a dramatic impact on our ability to have a right relationship with God and others. The foundation of right relationship is BELIEVING what is right and true! RIGHTEOUSNESS = to be in RIGHT RELATIONSHIP. God Himself is perfectly righteous, He is the STANDARD of right relationship. In order for us to be in relationship with God we must be righteous as well. The bad news is, none of us is righteous. So, how does unrighteous humanity obtain righteousness? We obtain it in the exact same way Abraham did! Genesis 15:6 says that “(Abraham) believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.” Throughout Abraham’s life he believed God and acted obediently according to His words. Abraham believed God when He told him he was going to have a son in his old age (Gen. 15:4-5), he believed God when He told him to be circumcised (Gen. 17:10-14), and he believed God when He told him to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice (Gen. 22:1-12). In each of these instances Abraham believed and obeyed. The foundation of Abraham’s obedience was His belief. BELIEF/FAITH = FULLY CONVINCED that God and His Word are TRUE. What is the result of believing what is right and true?
Belief/Faith in God results in us BEING right in relationship (Romans 4:1-5) – In most areas of life we receive what is due for our work. We are due a paycheck based on the hours we work we do at a job. We are due a grade based on the work we put into studying for a test. In contrast, in our relationship with God we “do NOT work but believe in Him who justifies the ungodly” in order to be counted as “righteous”. Right Relationship Tip #1: Righteousness can only be obtained from God as a gift as a result of our belief in Jesus’ work on the cross. Romans 3:22 says, “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” Jesus Christ has done all the work necessary for us to be in right relationship with God! Righteousness is a gift of grace from God through Jesus Christ for all of us who believe. At the moment we believe, righteousness is “counted” to us (Romans 4:22-25).
Belief/Faith in God results in us DOING right in relationship (James 2:14-24) – While belief is all we need to be righteous before God, there is at the same time work to be done. Righteousness is not just a spiritual thing, it is a practical thing as well. Being right results in doing right. That’s why James uses Abraham as an example when he asks the question, “was not Abraham our father justified by his works”, his “faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works.” Abraham’s righteousness (which he obtained by faith) at the same time, expressed itself in real life! Right Relationship Tip #2: Belief is proved genuine by obediently doing righteous actions in relationship. If we believe, if we are fully convinced that God and His Word are right and true, our belief will simultaneously have a dramatic impact on what we do in our real lives. If we believe God, it will result in the righteous works of love, kindness, goodness, patience, and forgiveness etc we do in relationship with others.
CONCLUSION
Right relationship (righteousness) with God and others starts with belief/faith! What has God revealed to us that we must believe in order to have a right relationship with Him? We must . . . 1) Believe that God EXISTS, LOVES us, and wants a RELATIONSHIP with us, 2) Believe that our SIN destroys our relationship with Him, 3) Believe that JESUS died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, 4) Believe that Jesus death provides FORGIVENESS for our sin and restores RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with Him. Do you believe? Our righteousness before God and our righteousness before others depends on it.
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