Lean In
Focus dude! It’s all about focus. You will focus on sin if you focus on getting sin out of your life. You will focus on righteousness if you focus on Jesus’ righteousness deposited in you. Trusting in His righteousness, not your righteousness, changes everything.
Righteousness is a gift we receive from God and not a spiritual level of success we try to achieve. We do not need to try harder if our thoughts and actions are not righteous. We need to throw in the white towel of our self effort and lean in. When we lean into Jesus and the righteousness he provides, we source righteousness Himself. Jesus is our righteousness.
Edward Mote wrote the words to the hymn “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less” in 1834. William B. Bradbury composed the hymn in 1863 and called it “Solid Rock.” As you read the lyrics of this hymn, let them minister to your soul. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”
God forgave our sins through the shed blood of Jesus. His finished work on the cross took away our sins and provided us with the righteousness the Father requires. What God requires, God provides. Our part is to receive by faith the gift of God’s forgiveness and the righteousness He provides.
When our trust and hope are in our ability to do good and avoid evil, it is sinking sand. I don’t know about you, but I am not very good at always getting it right. Isn’t it much better to lean into Jesus’ righteous life for the righteousness God requires? God provides us with what He requires of us.
Mote’s powerful hymn says, “Dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.” As children of God, you and I stand before the throne of God faultless because we are “Dressed in His Righteousness Alone.” To be dressed in His righteousness alone is more than just a promise for the great by and by. Today, you and I stand before God’s throne dressed in Jesus’ righteousness. Wow, wow, wow!
“On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand, All Other Ground is Sinking Sand.” Take a stand and declare over your life what God’s word says about you. Say it out loud. “I declare, God clothed me in Jesus’ righteousness. I place no faith in my righteousness. I stand now and forever before the throne of God, in right standing with Him. Rather than trying to gain righteousness by doing good and avoiding evil, I will lean into Jesus and His righteousness from this day forward. Amen!”
You and I can never do enough good and avoid enough evil to be right with God. When we lean into Jesus’ righteousness, doing good and avoiding evil will be a work of the Holy Spirit in and through us. It will no longer depend on our willpower and self-effort.
Lean in, my friend!