Righteous

 Happy Sunday!

"Tell the good people who do what is right that good things will happen to them. They will receive a reward for what they do. But it will be very bad for wicked people, because they, too, will get what they deserve. They will get what they did to others."(Isaiah 3:10-11 Easy-to-Read Version).

Israel had a history of ups and downs.  Periods of obedience followed by disobedience.  Good honorable kings followed by desperately wicked kings.  But consistently the good people were always at peace, protected, and provided for.  Think about Elijah facing off with Ahab.  He prophesied drought and famine, but he personally never lacked water or food.  And when he felt depressed and told God about all he'd done in 1 Kings 19:10, insisting he was the only good guy left.  God told him, "And incidentally, there are 7,000 men in Israel who have never bowed to Baal nor kissed him!”(1 Kings 19:18 Living Bible).

God is faithful.  God is faithful to His Word.  God is faithful to the righteous.  2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "He orchestrated this: the Anointed One, who had never experienced sin, became sin for us so that in Him we might embody the very righteousness of God."(Voice).  Don't miss this!  When we accept Jesus, we become the righteousness of God in Christ.  Titus 3:5 says, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;"(KJV). 

The Message Translation says it like this, " It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, easy marks for sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God’s gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there’s more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this."(Titus 3:3-8).

Love and prayers, Cynthia