Language Lab: What Is “righteousness”?

Language Lab: What Is “Righteousness”?

Bible Blast: Read Psalm 18:20-24

Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. Psalm 111:3

When my sweet daughter Lexi was about seven or eight years old, she came to me with a little black-and-white Beanie Baby cat. Lexi loved Beanie Babies and had about as many as the factory, I think! So the fact that I didn’t remember buying it didn’t surprise me. But Lexi had a confession. I hadn’t bought it for her. She had stolen it—from the church nursery!

She asked if God could forgive her, and I told her yes. We prayed together, and I believe that at that very moment God made her right with him. Then I asked her what we should do. She decided to write a letter of apology to the pastor and mail it to him, along with a new Beanie Baby cat to replace the stolen one.

That day Lexi Gresh was “righteous.”

What’s that mean anyway?

Does righteous mean sinless? Nope. God’s Word says, “Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). Based on our sin, there is no one righteous.

Was Lexi righteous because she took the Beanie Baby back and bought a new one? No. That just means she was good and made restitution. Giving another Beanie Baby to the church nursery was a really good thing to do. It made her feel better, and it was right. But restitution is not righteousness.

Righteousness is being made right through Jesus Christ. We can’t do anything to make ourselves like that. Only Jesus’ blood can do it. A righteous person isn’t one who never sins. It’s not one who makes up for her sin with good acts. A righteous person is one who confesses her sin and calls on Jesus to make her right with God.

Girl Gab: Choose one of the verses from today to memorize. Write it out a few times. Say it out loud. Hang it up in your locker or on your mirror. Make it your prayer for today.