“Righteous” refers to “getting right” with God. Our relationship with God is broke, because of sin. On the cross, Jesus assumed the role of “substitute sinner.” It even say “became sin” itself, so that all of God’s rage could be poured out.
All that is wrong in the world is due to sin. All pain. All sorrow. ISIS. Pollution. Poverty. Crime. God designed human life to be love, joy and peace. Satan used man’s sin to break the world. God’s plan to restore the world require the destruction of sin’s power. So, he smashed sin in Jesus on the cross.
Only Jesus, as perfect man and eternal God, could effectively break sin itself. People – finite and imperfect – could only satisfy God’s justice for their own sin. And a finite being cannot satisfy an infinite break. Only a perfect sacrifice could mend the schism.
- God's Perspective
Scripture describes the sacrifice that will meet God’s specifications as a lamb without blemish. But the offerings Israel gave were not big enough. The could only be acts of faith that God was going to find something big enough. And God did.
Christ’s sacrifice was so big, it covered all human beings. Those living now. Those who lived in the past. Those who will live in the future.
Not all human beings will give him allegiance and become part of his family. But God values people so much, he acted to cover all.
God valued relationship with his children so much, he went big to ensure that relationship would be restored. And he continues to pursue relationship.
“Righteousness” can be viewed as having “right standing” with God. It is God taking action to ensure he can walk with people once more. It is God restoring a road for easy access to his family. (Moreover, he added a high speed, huge bandwidth pipe for quicker access. And the uploads and downloads use the same pipe at the same speeds. And both are free.)
- Living My Life
God takes relationship with his children so seriously, that he paid an impossibly high price to secure that relationship. He paid the price for all, so he could have relationship with some.
Since, God takes relationship seriously, we ought to take relationship seriously. We ought to take the commands of Jesus seriously. We ought to take the focus of our hearts seriously. We ought to take the hearts and lives of other parts of God’s family seriously.
Relationships can take many forms. And it should grow and change form and shape over time. So, what it looks like will be different. It will look different for each of us. It will look different for each of us at different times.
As the main fuel of our spirits is our relationship with the Father, as we gain clearer vision and understanding of the Father, how we connect will be different. How we access and process the fuel will be different.
It will always involve taking time to communicate. Times of worship, meditation, prayer will increase and decrease. Modes, means and methods will change. Possibly it will only entail attitude shifts, or an adjustment in how we focus our hearts. Our forms of prayer may take on new meaning. We may invent new forms.
It will always involve intent, energy and discipline. It will always involve an active listening to the spirit, and an openness to change. It will always require an attitude of being alert and prepared to act.
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