It's a Gift...It's Free...It's MINE!

A few years back, money was pretty tight for my family. I was working in a minimum wage job, with a growing family to provide for and an increasing number of mouths to feed. We had to move into my parents basement and put our tiny house up for rent...just so we could pay the mortgage on it. Through it all though, God was faithful. We never lacked what we needed, and we came out the other side of that pressure better than when we went in.

During that low time - to help us out - my in-laws gave us cell phones that were included on their monthly plan. What a blessing that was!
For me, there was a sense of peace in knowing that my wife could get a hold of anyone she needed to while I was away at work.
For my wife, there was a sense of relief in being able to connect with friends, family, and the outside world in general when she was at home with the kids all day.

We were very grateful for those phones that were given to us. And we never forgot where they came from.

Having said that; we never once called them "my in-law's phones".
Sure, they paid for them in Pennsylvania and sent them to us here in Michigan.
Sure, they took care of the monthly bills for us.
But guess what...they were still our phones!

That's the nature of a gift: It's something that was paid for by someone else, but also something that YOU own. It's yours because it was given to you.

This Righteousness Now Belongs To You

"For if by the one man's (Adam's) offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous." - Romans 5:17-19

(Let me interject here...I have to do this every once in a while. If you skipped over reading the passage above so you can read more of MY words, go back! What I say about the scripture should not take priority over the scripture itself. Read those verses in Romans again - and then continue with the post!)

What did Paul call righteousness in this passage? A free gift!

This means that, even though Jesus earned it and paid for it, He gave it to US! 

This is not a minor point here - we're not just playing with semantics. If God gave us the gift of righteousness...then whose righteousness is it now?

Obviously (just like my in-laws still had their own phones), God is still righteous. Although He gave us His own righteousness, He still has his own! But, just like the phone that was given to me, I now have MY righteousness too! 

If this was a gift that was given to me, then it's mine!

Of course, I'm not arrogant enough to think that I did something to get this. I know it was a gift, and I'm grateful for the price that My Father paid to provide this to me free of charge. But the fact that it was a gift means I feel very comfortable taking ownership of this righteousness.

Don't Shy Away - Own It!

"Hear me when I call, Oh God of my righteousness." - Psalm 4:1

How many Christians in American churches would hesitate to say something like this? How could any humble believer talk about their righteousness? God is the only one that is righteous, not me! I'm not a righteous person...right? Doesn't the Bible say "there is no one good, no not one" and "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"? 

Yes it does...but what does the context of that verse say? Look at the passage in context and see what it's actually saying:

"But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed....through faith in Christ Jesus, to all who believe. For there is no difference...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace....to demonstrate His righteousness...that He might be just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

"All have sinned" is only a minor statement here...and it's far from being Paul's main point! What he's actually saying is this: "There's a righteousness that comes from faith to everyone who believes. It doesn't come on one group of people and remain unavailable another group. Just like we've all sinned,  we can all become righteous by faith in Christ Jesus."

Before salvation we were all sinners. After salvation no believer remains a sinner. 

When you're born again, you become a righteous person.

Let me prove this by pointing to the human author of the "all have sinned" passage. What kind of man was Paul before he met Jesus? He was a zealot who persecuted the church and had the blood of many Christians on his hands. He ruthlessly dragged innocent men, women, and children away from their homes and testified against them during their trials.

And yet, this man had the audacity to say this in 1 Corinthians 7:2 "We have wronged no one..."

How could he say this? How could this former murderer claim that he had wronged no one? Certainly, from outside looking in, this didn't appear to be true. No...Paul could only make this assertion because he was aware of something more than who he used to be. Paul knew about the gift that he had received from Jesus. He was righteous!

My friends, don't shy away from this, you have a righteousness that is your own now!
It was a free gift from God - and it came to you through your faith in Christ Jesus. 

In Christ Jesus, YOU are a righteous person now!