As you may already know, I got born again in my teens and I was passionate about serving God in the choir. I was in church almost everyday of the week including all night rehearsals and special programs. I enjoyed it thoroughly😁. As time went by, I wrote JAMB and got admission into university along with about 15 of my friends from the teenagers club of my church. Our parents were so proud and I remember one of them saying that he wasn’t surprised that we all passed because we had served God so diligently.
I went on to university and continued to worship and serve diligently. I didn’t struggle to find a good job after graduation and I settled down pretty quickly. Someone again told me that he wasn’t surprised at the way God was making a way for me since I was so passionate about my relationship with God and my wholehearted service to God. I unconsciously noted these comments.
As I grew older, I noticed that my passion for God wasn’t as great as before. I wasn’t spending much time in communion with God, and I wasn’t serving in church as much as I used to. I remember telling someone that I felt that I had reaped all that I deserved based on my past dedication to God. My prayer then was that God would just have mercy on me and bless me even though I wasn’t such a dedicated child. God remained faithful. He never changed through the ups and downs of my life seasons even though I wasn’t as dedicated.
Over time I started realizing that I was wrong to think that my dedication and service to God was currency to obtain God’s goodness. Whoever taught me that??? I started to understand that nothing I did could ever make God indebted to me. This lesson came strongly while reading the story of Job and his friends.
“Then Elihu said: “Do you think it is right for you to claim, ‘I am righteous before God’? If you sin, how does that affect God? Even if you sin again and again, what effect will it have on him? If you are good, is this some great gift to him? What could you possibly give him? No, your sins affect only people like yourself, and your good deeds also affect only humans.” Job 35:1-2, 6-8 NLT
Even though Job’s friends were misunderstanding him, Job also needed to understand that our works of righteousness does not make God indebted to us. Job did everything possible to ensure that his account with God was positive. He even made sacrifices for his kids just in case they sinned unknowingly. He thought he had covered all angles, so when calamity befell him, it was too much of a shock to him. It shook the very foundation of his relationship with God such that he had to relearn his faith.
“But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.” Isaiah 64:6 NKJV
Indeed there is nothing we can do to earn the goodness of God. It dawned on me that I was already blessed each time that I was dedicated in my worship and service to God. It was a time of healing and rediscovery of who I am as God sees me. It was a time of growth in my character and a time where I experienced divine guidance from God to make the right decisions. A time of building my trust in God as I prayed and He answered. Those times opened me up to be blessed by God. It was all for my good and not to make God indebted. God is faithful whether I am faithful or not!
The second part of the lesson I learnt is that God sees me as a righteous person already. I understood this when I started feeling unworthy and indebted because I hadn’t prayed and served enough. What God had been seeing in me all the while was not my good works, but the gift of righteousness that the death of Jesus bought for me. I became a child of God when I acknowledged Jesus as my Lord and savior. I became a righteous child of God by faith. I automatically became an heir of God’s kingdom, riches and goodness! I don’t deserve it but I get it anyway!
“he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.” Titus 3:5-7 NLT
Halleluyah! We are righteous! He calls us righteous!
“Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.” Colossians 1:22-23 NLT
It’s almost unreal but that is why we must believe it. We must continue to hold on to the truth that we are righteous even when we fail at being righteous. We must continue to believe as we get up again and run into His presence every time. The more we show up in His presence, the more we are shaped into the way He sees us. We continue to believe what Jesus has done for us. It is hard to believe but it is what it is!
Pray with me: Dear Father I thank you for for your presence in my life. I thank you for continuing to change me. I thank you for the gift of righteousness and my adoption as an heir of God! I thank you because your faithfulness to me has been constant through my failures and my rising. Today I declare that I will not remain the same as I experience your faithfulness each day in Jesus name. I confess that your grace is enough for me to continue to change into your likeness and into the person you have called me to be in Jesus name. Amen!
Worship with me: Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me. You have been so, so good to me. Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me, You have been so so kind to me. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the 99, I couldn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it, still You give yourself away. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. You’re a good food father!!!
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