Seeking Jesus First - May 17, 2023
Can a person be righteous and not walk in righteousness? Can a person walk in righteousness and be righteous? The answer may surprise you. Unless our righteousness is equal to God’s righteousness, we cannot be righteous. So Jesus imputed His righteousness to us.
Through faith, we have received the righteousness of God in our inner man. Our spirit is eternal and it is as righteous as Christ Jesus Himself. We are our spirit. Our flesh will return to dust. It is not eternal. Our soul is being renewed by the word of God and by His Spirit in us. Because of faith in Christ Jesus, we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and we are recreated as new eternal beings.
This means that you are righteous by faith and not by works. Your flesh has nothing to say in the matter because it is not the eternal you.
What is the benefit of walking in righteousness? Why should I live according to my eternal spirit man instead of my flesh? Righteousness in your inward parts is by faith in Christ Jesus and through him we are partakers of His divine nature. When we live by the spirit and word of God, we unleash heaven on earth. We can wait until the flesh is dead to experience what God has in store for us, but we don’t have to.
Galatians 5 (and several other places) says that if we practice the deeds of the flesh we will not experience the kingdom of heaven. Galatians 6 says that if we sow to the flesh, we will reap corruption in the flesh, but if we sow to the spirit, we will reap life. Do you remember that Jesus said that His words are spirit and life? We can experience this on earth just as Jesus did.
“For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every good path. When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul, Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you,” (Proverbs 2:6–11, NKJV)
It is important to walk uprightly. It is important to walk according to the spirit. The word tells us to put off the old man and put on Christ, the new man, which is fashioned like God in righteousness and true holiness. The word tells us to do it so we can.
With the wisdom of God, we can walk the good and upright path. We receive knowledge and understanding from His mouth and we receive wisdom from His breath/spirit. When we stay close to Him, we hear His voice and we feel His breath. These are metaphors for an intimate loving relationship. We care about what He sis saying and doing and we copy Him. “Be imitators of God as dear children.” “The sons of God are led by the Spirit of God.”
Walking in righteousness is just living in our new identity. How does one walk in righteousness? “The righteous live by faith.” We simply live according to the spirit and not according to the flesh. We stay close to God, listening to His voice and feeling His breath. We do what we see Him do and say what we hear Him say. And we do it by faith - not by feelings.
We do not choose rightly simply because the flesh wants to. We choose rightly because of our relationship with Our Father in heaven. We walk uprightly because we are walking with Him.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10, NKJV)
We tell people, “It’s not about religion, it is about relationship.” This is so true. God is not somewhere else watching to see what we do. God is in us and with us walking through this life with us. Adam walked with God in the cool of the day. We walk with God 24/7.
There is a reward for walking uprightly. It is not heaven when we die. It is heaven on earth.
Heaven when we die is promised through faith in Christ Jesus. Heaven on earth is received through walking by faith and not by sight. When we live according to the spirit and not according to the flesh, we receive heaven on earth.