The Benefits of Being Right With God
Isaiah 54:17 gives us an amazing promise from God. It says, "No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong. This [peace, righteousness, security, triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the Lord [those in whom the ideal Servant of the Lord is reproduced]…" (AMPC).
We have an inheritance from God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ! It includes His peace, righteousness, security and triumph over opposition. When you get an inheritance, it means you freely receive what someone else has worked for, earned and deserved. It's a gift.
One of the wonderful gifts we get through Christ is God's righteousness. This means we have right standing with Him.
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It's so important for us, as believers in Christ, to understand what this really means, because if we don't, the enemy of our souls — the devil — will keep us from enjoying the benefits of righteousness or being made right with God.
The Epidemic Only God's Righteousness Can Cure
Insecurity is an epidemic in our society today. So many people don't really feel good about themselves or "right." Nothing in your life is ever right until you feel right about yourself, and one of the biggest problems people have is the way they feel about themselves. Sadly, some people spend their whole lives not liking themselves, which creates all kinds of issues they never overcome.
Insecure people often have what I call the Performance-Acceptance Syndrome: they feel like the only way they can be accepted is if they perform the way everybody wants them to perform. The problem with this is that everybody in your life probably wants something different from you. If you spend all of your time and energy trying to give them what they want from you, you're going to lose yourself and end up not having the life you were created by God to have. You're going to be frustrated, discontent and miserable.
I have a couple of questions for you: Do you like yourself? Do you like to spend time by yourself? I love to be by myself, but I know what it's like to experience self-rejection bordering on self-hatred because of the abuse I experienced throughout my childhood. For many years, it caused me to believe something was wrong with me and to have a constant underlying sense of guilt. It made me an insecure, angry adult who was miserable and hard to get along with most of the time.
But until I got serious about my relationship with God and began studying His Word on a regular basis, I was unable to change my behavior and have peace and joy in my life. And as I grew closer to God and came to trust His love for me, I got a revelation that I can feel right about myself because I've been made right with God through the blood of Jesus — not because of the things I do that are right.
Believe You Are Who God Says You Are
We seem to think it's a "holy" thing to feel down about ourselves. But God wants us to feel good about ourselves and have a healthy, positive view of ourselves because He created us, He loves us and His plans for us are good. If we don't believe we have value or the ability to do anything well, we won't have the confidence to do the great things He has in store for our lives.
Now, I'm not talking about being prideful or being "in love" with yourself. When you experience God's love, it's a very humbling thing that fills your heart with gratitude for all He's done for you. You know that He is the source of every good thing in your life, and you want to live out His purpose and plans for you in response to His love.
The best way to break out of an ungodly mindset about yourself is to know who you are in Christ. Jesus shed His blood and died on the cross so you can be forgiven of your sin and have a personal relationship with God. His sacrifice makes you right with God and gives you access to everything He is so you can grow in your faith and develop the character of Christ in your thoughts, words, attitudes and behaviors.
Scripture says that we inherit the promises of God through faith and patience (Hebrews 6:12). Sometimes we have to believe God's Word for a while before we see it fulfilled in our lives. But if we will be determined not to give up and to trust that God will do everything He says He will do, then we will become what He has destined us to be!
I really want you to get this today, because if you base your worth and value on what you do, you will be an insecure, unstable, unhappy person. That is NOT God's will for you. God knows you are not perfect and you don't do everything right all the time. But as you see yourself the way He sees you — as His workmanship, recreated in Christ Jesus to do good works that He predestined you to do (Ephesians 2:10) — you'll produce more and more right behavior because it's who you are in Him. You'll enjoy the inheritance you have through Christ: peace, righteousness, security and triumph over opposition!
