Calista Patterson

Righteousness

November 18, 2013

Righteousness

Before this class, I had little idea of what righteousness truly was. I only understood that God was righteous, and I'd never questioned the definition of the word beyond that. I thought righteousness meant being held above all else, honored, all-powerful, or superior. I have discovered that I was not wrong in my thinking, I just hadn't grasped the full concept of it. Righteousness is so much deeper than I had ever considered. Growing up, I've heard many teachings on the need for righteousness. I've heard countless times to not lose faith or give into the world's ways, but I knew little about the truth of who we are in Christ or how righteousness and faith are available to the believer. We often hear teachings that point to the thought that our redemption and salvation are not truly developed until after death on this earth. That we will finally have rest when we get to heaven; we will be successful and triumphant once we get to heaven; we will have peace with God when we get to heaven. It leads to the idea that there is nothing for us here but failure and disappointment. This is how I used to understand things. If this were true, then there really is nothing for us here on earth. We would have to live each day just getting by and awaiting the moment we were taken to heaven...but that's not how God works. We live in His presence now. The Father did not place us on this earth simply to wonder around until we die and hope that we were good enough to one day stand beside Him. He has created us for a divine purpose beyond what we can understand. Until this class, I had never considered the meaning of “the fall of man.” I knew that sin had entered the world through Adam and Eve's decision, and that then the devil took over, but that's about as far as I went. God originally created man in right standing with Him, but sin separates us. That is truly what the fallen nature means; we could no longer stand before Christ because we were no longer righteous. It's more