July 17, 2010 The Robe of Righteousness

God's ideas about righteousness are very different from the ones we come up with as human beings.  God says righteousness can only be received, by believing Him.  He says there's nothing we can do, even from the Mosaic law, to make us righteous.  If we want to be accepted by God, we're going to have to come to Him on His terms.  We can't go before His throne of grace in filthy rags (our own efforts to be righteous).  We have to go before Him in a robe of righteousness.  We are given this robe when we receive Christ as our savior.  His righteousness is placed on us, and then we are clothed properly. 

When we are in right standing with the Father based on our faith in Christ, we can then come before Him in our time of need (which is all the time, isn't it?).  Now that we have been given a right relationship with the Father God through Christ our Brother, we are going to have the opportunity to grow up in Him.  The end result is people who are just like Jesus, walking in righteousness that flows from the inside out because He lives in us.  This delights the Father, but it is never what makes us right with Him.