The Psalmist Voice Reloaded: The Gift of Righteousness Part 3

Righteousness. To many people the thought of righteousness is like the thought of moral perfection ' something that is unattainable, something that because it is unattainable is also threatening, because it is perceived to be something that is expected of us, yet something we can never accomplish. It is also seen by some to have a repulsive overtone, because 'righteousness' is associated with hypocrites and with people who are 'self-righteous'. Because of these negative connotations many people, including many Christians, pass over the Bible's references to 'righteousness', and in that fearful passing over have disregarded one of the most powerful antidotes to the fear of judgment and failure that the Bible offers us. The Bible teaches that 'righteousness' is a 'gift', and that this gift is 'God's abundant provision.' It is something that he gives to us, not something that he requires of us. It is required, yes. It is essential, yes. But it is not provided by us, it is given to us by God himself. We will be looking at this gift of righteousness for several weeks. We will see what it means. We will see how God gives us this incredible gift. For the moment, because it is a 'gift' we can understand this much: that it is not something we do, it is not something we earn, it is not something we merit or deserve. It is sheer gift.