Cooler temps & the dogs go to the vet ** He sees us as righteous

    Romans 3: 21 "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify"

Do you know someone (or maybe you feel this way yourself) Who is trying really hard to be a “good” Christian?

You see, when anyone tries to be good enough in their own attempt to live a good Christian life… They are missing the whole point of Jesus…

No one can trust in their own efforts to be right with God.

And it’s here [at today’s scripture verse] that Paul begins to shift the framework of our thinking to help us understand the rest of the letter…

Which is: The righteousness we need cannot be obtained by our own efforts.

 And the Good News is that it’s in our inability, in our lack that we discover God’s provision…

The righteousness we need comes from Him independently and apart from the Law.

But Paul claims that it is what the Law and the Prophets testified all along.

And yet so many people today continue to miss this truth!

Oh, our rules may look different today…

but many of us are still operating in our own efforts because we haven’t understood this difference.

This truth is easy to miss…

Mercy and grace were present in the Old Testament…  through the sacrifices prescribed by the Law as they looked forward to their coming Messiah…

However, many assumed that forgiveness and grace were earned by fulfilling as much of the Law as possible.

And many still hold on to this idea today…

Our rules may look different today, but many of us are still operating in our own efforts because we haven’t understood this difference.

But this was never the Law’s intent, which was to show the pattern of the One to come—Christ …as Col. 2:17 says: “These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”

If the Law and Prophets were testifying about Jesus and not about righteousness through the Law, then it makes sense that God’s righteousness comes through Christ independent from the Commandments.

And this is the basis for understanding the rest of the Book of Romans.

Faith in Jesus puts us in right standing with God.

Jesus Christ has already given His followers His righteousness when we accepted His life and His salvation.

At this moment, we stand righteous before the Father - even as we struggle with our flesh, the world and the enemy... The Father sees our righteousness as a completed fact.

                          Enjoy the video and God bless!