God's righteousness comes through faith on Him

Central Thought: Gods word brings faith in life and faith helps us to get the righteousness of God in life.

Today's Scripture: Rom 4:13, “It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.”

The Devotion:

There are two things I would like to explain to you from this passage today. Abraham is the father of all the believers and he received the promises of God that he will be a heir of the world through righteousness that comes by faith. Today let us take these words “ righteousness” & “ faith ” to analyze and learn some thing about them. The Apostle Paul says by faith Abraham got God's righteousness as the bible says in Gen 15:6, “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Then this question may arise in our minds what is righteousness? The bible says in Deu 6:25, “And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."

Let us examine the word righteousness:

There are so many commandments the Lord has given unto us in the bible . First of all, we must know the commandments of God. How can we know about them or learn about them? For that, we must try to learn them by taking time to read and understand them, only then we will come to know the truth of it. We cannot follow them without even knowing what they are and we cannot know about them without taking time to reading it. If we do not know the bible we cannot follow them in our lives. That is why the prophet says in Hosea 4:6, “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” So the bible it self says if we do not have enough knowledge we will perish.

Why we do not have sufficient knowledge in the word of God? Because we do not consider the word of God as very important in our lives and take time to read them with some regard like this word in Hosea 8:12, “I wrote for them the many things of my law, but they regarded them as something alien.” But if we take time to read and understand the word of God the bible says we will get prosperity and what ever we may try to do we will succeed in life as it is written in Psalms 1:1 to 3. There are three things, which can divert our attention from the word of God. They are the counsel of the wicked, the way of the sinners and the seat of the mockers. If a Christian believer can avoid all these three things in his life, he could very easily spend time to read and meditate the word of God. When we meditate the word of God day and night with interest we will understand the truth and receive all the blessings of God in life. The Psalmist says here in Vs.3 whatever we do God will bless them and we will prosper in life. So knowing the word of God and trying to follow them very carefully will be our righteousness and our real blessing in life as in Deu 6:25.

Let us see about the word Faith:-

When we spend time more to know the word of God that is good for us. Apostle Paul says faith comes by hearing the word of God as in Rom 10:17, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” So listening to the word of God helps us to grow in our faith. So we must be in a place where we can hear the word of God regularly. That is why the bible says, as some people are neglecting to go and participate in the assembly of God we should not do it as in Heb 10:25, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” God helps us to grow in the faith as we go to the church. When we grow in our faith we can please God in our lives as in Heb 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” There are two things about this faith, which pleases the lord; which I like to point out here. We must observe them whole-heartedly to please God. First of all, we must believe that our God is a living God. Secondly , he answers to all the prayers of those who seek him diligently as in James 5:17.

When we have faith we can very easily believe God even before seeing the answer as in Heb 11:1, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” For example we read about the prophet Samuel's mother Hannah in the bible. The bible says when she was not having a child; she was very much depressed and crying for it. So she went to the temple of God and prayed a long prayer by making a vow and pouring her heart out totally in the presence of God. After that she got the inner assurance, a faith that God will give her a child. The bible says she was not sad or downcast any more from that time onwards as in 1 Sam 1:18, “Then her face was no longer downcast .” That means she received it in faith even before God granted her a son. (Even before seeing the child she could believe in her heart that surely God will give her a child)

May the lord help us to have a strong faith on him to please him and help every one of us to know the word of God by taking regularly time to read and understand the word of God so that we can wholeheartedly follow them in our lives to be a righteous person for the lord. Amen.

Devotional Prayer:

Lord I ask in the name of Jesus that you might help me to go and hear the word of God more, so that I can grow in my inner faith and please you in my every day life. Lord help me to know the bible by taking more and more time to read and understand them so that I can follow them very carefully and live a righteous life on this earth for you.

What can we learn from this story? Let us try to grow in our faith to please the living God. Let us also know the word of God and follow them carefully to live a righteous life for the glory of God.

Yours in the kingdom of God’s service,
Rev. Dr. T. Marcus Devasahayam.